Director: Paul Tarnopol
Year: 2014
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Heading out for a vacation, a group of friends renting a house for a weekend getaway encounter a group of guys also looking to hook up for the evening and bring them back only to find themselves targeted by a vicious killer and must find a way of saving themselves from the maniac.
Review:
This was quite the enjoyable enough effort. One of the better elements featured here is the rather engaging series of setups that offer quite a bit of fun at their expense. Not only is the first scenes showing the group on the road with their car problems and the housing mishap while giving this the kind of setup with them appearing at the house which is quite goofy and silly with the way they all interact there at the house. Even going so far as the cheesy tour through the woods with the group of loser guys or the beach-side exploits where they meet the other group of guys there picking them up for later. There's even more to enjoy with the catfight at the nightclub that forces them back to the house where the fun starts.
Once they're back at the house again, this one turns into quite the exceptionally fun slasher which has a lot of sleazy fun charms. This part of the film turns into a full-on slasher opus with some rather strong and enjoyable stalking scenes that provide a thrilling, nonstop series of attacks and encounters here, from the bathroom-based double-murder featuring the separate attacks with the tanning bed and the showering friend and the tense attack in the bedroom which all offer up some pretty thrilling action alongside the nice gore. The film's at its bet in the scenes at the shack where the killer has them abducted and ready to torture the various captives there or the engage in the fantastic chasing around the house that leads into the shack for a nice finale.
The cast here is perfect for this type of effort. Starting with the main girls, Danielle Dallacco is an impressive final girl as Teresa, the leader of the group. She seems the most level-headed in the situation and the most realistic about expectations which gives her quite a lot to really like as she ends up the main girl. Her friend Dina, played by Angelica Boccella appears to be the stereotypical tough New Jersyian who always shoots off her mouth in any situation but gradually comes to be a likable, reliable friend. Nicole Rutigliano as Joanne and Nicky Figueredo as Candi aren't all that memorable since they tends to disappear into the background, but the other two are a little bit better here. Ashley Mitchell as Valerie is a little more memorable as the one who has the stomach issues, while Christina Scaglione is a little more respectable as ditsy blonde Gigi who could've been fun had she been around longer. The late arriver-to-the-party Rosemarie, played by Leonarda Jonie, doesn't have much to do and tends to be overlooked in favor of comic relief against the others.
As for the men, Giovanni Roselli as Tony, the big beefy athletic one is a solid enough lead as he looks the part here which helps with the battle with the killer but otherwise looks like the others. Chris Lazzaro is much more impressive as Freddy, the wannabe rapper with a memorable laugh that is somewhat annoying but manages to be believable in the part which is important. This is easily the most memorable of the guys as he has the most notable and defined role here. The other guys in the group, Brenton Duplessie as Vinnie, Brett Azar as Gino and John Michael Hastie as Joey, all tend to come off the same which hurts the male group more than the women but overall it's a bit of a disappointment since they're not nearly as memorable. As well as the fine nudity provided by those well-equipped to provide it, these here hold it up over the few flaws.
Among the few flaws to be found here is the fact that this one tends to be really go all over the place in the first half with a wide variety of goofy plotpoints and tangents. These are just all over the place with them continually changing plans and going to different events or locations trying to have a good time don't really provide anything of any interest as they just speak of a chaotic series of scenes designed to enhance the running time. There's not much point in these scenes to go off into as many odd sections as it does here for any reason other than to beef out the film and it's obvious about that. As well, there's also the issue about the really silly finale which is pretty ridiculous with the double-turns and the various odd explanations offered for the killers' rampage which is really ham-fisted and makes no sense. It tends to feature way too much obscure tangents and coincidences to really give this a sense of closure that doesn't come from the actions here. These here are what hold this one back.
Overview: ***/5
While there's obvious flaws and problems here, this one is quite enjoyable enough when it counts which really gives it a nice watchability factor that offers up some interesting times. Give this a watch if you're into the type of spoofed behavior this offers or are extreme fans of these silly slasher efforts, while those who can't look past those elements should definitely heed caution with this one.
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