• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

Movie Review – Broken (2016)

February 27, 2017 by Tony Black

Broken, 2016.

Directed by Shaun Robert Smith.
Starring Morjana Alaoui, Mel Raido, and Craig Conway.

SYNOPSIS:

Evie, full-time live-in carer to crippled rock star Jonathan, finds the darkness of her past returning to haunt her as the pressures of her new job begin to take control…

Following several short films and a career as a make-up artist, Shaun Robert Smith ventures into debut feature territory with Broken, produced by supporting star Craig Conway, and which has been dubbed by some–including Alan Jones at FrightFest – as comparable to pictures such as Taxi Driver or Repulsion. Errr… hang on, were we watching the same film? Because I don’t remember either of those classic horror pictures by acclaimed directors boring me half to death. Broken takes a premise which should have been a white knuckle, thumbscrew tight psychological ride into the dark depths of a woman’s psyche and instead delivers a bland, plodding tread into the lives of some desperately unlikeable characters, without even the dank, filthy fun of the exploitation it wants to explore.

The premise is simple: immigrant Evie (Morjana Alaoui) is attempting to kickstart a new life in the U.K. by acting as a live in carer for Jonathan (Mel Raido), a former rock star crippled in a (self-inflicted) accident, who now spends his days wallowing in filth, sex parties & self-pity while being given drugs by Conway’s old pal Dougie. Sounds charming doesn’t it? Now frankly this kind of depressing set up would be worth the time did Smith’s film do one of two things – either revel in the filth, make it fun and even perhaps a dash eccentric or OTT, or otherwise be truly nightmarish, scary and tense. His film does neither.

It simply takes over ninety minutes (which feel like three hours) to go almost nowhere. Alaoui doesn’t get the material to truly allow her tortured carer to be explored in the manner she deserves, given her horrendous backstory, while Raido is just so relentlessly a prick to everyone you simply count the minutes until someone does him in. Everyone swears a lot, Jonathan shits his pants a few times, Conway acts a bit rapey and eventually the ‘pressure’ gets too much. Or so Smith would want us to believe. Truth is, despite some level of grim, claustrophobic atmosphere he brings to his direction, you’ll be so bored by last orders you just won’t give a toss who ends up ‘broken’, and how.

What’s a shame is that Broken probably has a decent psychological thriller up its sleeve but it just doesn’t have the script or style to pull it off. Shaun Robert Smith does create a grim level of staging which he can build on as a horror director but the story and writing here lacks both incident and tension, unable to tighten the screws of creeping, nasty exploitation horror in the way it wants to.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★

Tony Black

Filed Under: Movies, Reviews, Tony Black Tagged With: broken, Craig Conway, Mel Raido, Morjana Alaoui, Shaun Robert Smith

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

The Best Milla Jovovich Movies Beyond Resident Evil

Overlooked Horror Actors and Their Best Performance

10 Great Val Kilmer Performances

Cobra: Sylvester Stallone and Cannon Films Do Dirty Harry

The Essential Action Movies of 1985

Great 90s Neo-Noir Movies You Might Have Missed

Ten Action Sequels The World Needs To See

Cinema of Violence: 10 Great Hong Kong Movies of the 1980s

Rooting For The Villain

The Essential Horror-Comedy Movies of the 21st Century

Top Stories:

Movie Review – The Shrouds (2025)

Comic Book Preview – Marvel Swimsuit Special: Friends, Foes & Rivals

Back to the Future at 40: The Story Behind the Pop Culture Touchstone

8 Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

Movie Review – Hot Milk (2025)

Movie Review – Heads of State (2025)

Movie Review – The Old Guard 2 (2025)

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey gets a first teaser poster

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

Ten Great Comeback Performances

Great Cyberpunk Movies You Need To See

In a Violent Nature and Other Slasher Movies That Subvert the Genre

Underrated Movies from the Masters of Action Cinema

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket