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Reviewed
by: Andre Manseau
Directed
by: Andrew van den Houten
Starring:
Stephen Grey
Art Hindle
Pollyana McIntosh
Tommy Nelson
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| A bunch of nasty cannibals are eating people in the little town of Dead River, Maine. Of course, these are evil cannibals that the town sheriff thought were all dead. They settle in on a group of friends who are hanging out for a weekend. |
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Well, sometimes it feels like if you've seen one cannibal movie, you've seen them all and this one wasn't very different. I guess you could call this one a cross between Children of the Corn and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but that's pretty loose.
The core of this movie deals with a family that gets captured and has to endure these monsters. And let me tell you, people have to put up with a lot because there's a lot of nastiness going on here. Don't let that confuse you though, because this movie isn't very good at all. The whole thing just comes off like it's really, really bush league. The editing is terrible, and the kids look terrible too, what is with those afro wigs?
This flick isn't a complete waste, I admire its brutality, and if the story were filmed properly, this movie would really be something. The film is well shot as well, but poorly edited as I mentioned before. The acting is decent enough from the victims, but I didn't always buy the cannibals because they just looked awful at times. And there are scenes that pretty much border on torture porn, which I don't really enjoy all that much.
There just isn't much going on in this movie- no twists, no turns, just a little over an hour to endure people getting killed by silly looking kids in loincloths (yeah, loincloths). I'm not going to go on and on about this movie, it just isn't very good. I'd heard negative things before I watched it and sadly, these things came true. Unless you're the least discriminating gore lover, there just isn't much here. |
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Video is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and sports a quality transfer by lionsgate.
Audio comes in Dolby 5.1 and is mixed pretty well. |
First up is an Audio commentary with writer Jack Ketchum, director/producer Andrew van den Houten, and producer/cinematographer William M. Miller. I'll admit it, I could barely listen to this- Ketchum doesn't sound too impressed and the other two dudes weren't very exciting to listen to. Not the best commentary track.
Progeny: The Birth of Offspring is a pretty typical EPK that features the actors, glad handing, special effects, etc. It's nothing you haven't seen before.
First Stolen's Bailout is a little blurb about bailing out a cast member from jail. Weird inclusion, no?
There's also a few short web clips, a photo gallery, a script and a music video from Warbringer. |
| This is a very mediocre horror film at best that I didn't really enjoy all that much. I wouldn't recommend it really, and even at 78 minutes it seems too long. I'm sure Jack Ketchum could do better than this, and you could too. |
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Episode #32
