Director: Rolfe Kanefsky
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Party Bus to Hell
Genre: Cult
Plot:
Heading out into the desert, a woman joins a group of partiers heading to a special meeting only to become trapped by a ravenous gang of cult-members looking for one of the members onboard to be a requirement in a sacrificial ritual and must help them get away alive.
Review:
For the most part, this was quite the fun and exciting effort. One of the main driving points for this one is the rather cheesy nature of the setup featured here. This one plays nicely with the idea of the clueless group of friends renting out a party bus to take them to a big get-together in a remote desert location only to have the real horror spring out from there as it's a setting that allows for plenty of fun to emerge from which is doled out in plenty of cheesy attacks throughout here. The early scenes of the loner wandering through the desert with the victim chasing her makes for a great start while the subsequent battle with the mummy-dressed members and the scenes of the travelers being stranded out on the road by themselves which signal the kind of action to be featured later on.
That plays quite nicely into the main aspect to really like here in the sleazy action featured prominently. Graced with plentiful nudity not only in the main protagonists who strips off continuously but also the sexually-charged cult activities that require numerous female members of the cult to strip down and rub each other suggestively with plenty of blood or mangled body parts which is not only highly-erotic but also quite continuous throughout the film. Not only is that a big element with the film, but the need for one sequence to have one character nude for an extended period of time with the rest of the group trying to strip-search the individual in question features a great excuse for more while the plotline about the need to deflower the virgin needed for the ritual all along being brought up in the first place gives the kind of plotline where this is going.
The other really big part of this one is the rather chaotic and frenzied action that provides this one with a stellar, watchable pace throughout. The action starts off early on, and with the scene of the cult coming out of the darkness to attack the bus that creates plenty of chaos not only within the bus but being done so early on in the film that sets up the later scenes to come that the film scores nicely. The initial scenes of the chaos involving the cult members appearing and grabbing the others out of the darkness, throwing bodies around or abducting others to sacrifice later makes for a wild start that signals the start of the upcoming sequences later on. By having the cult outside of the bus from that point on and even influencing the actions within with the outright stellar hallucinatory attack with the bugs crawling around over everyone in the darkness or introducing the concept of the demon hostess getting involved in the action which provides this with lots of action and great gore that gives this a lot to really like over it’s minor flaws.
The main problems to be had here is the fact that there’s quite a prominent cheese factor that might not appeal to all out there. From the silly nature of the setup that combines somewhat sleazy action into a rather straightforward film with the idea of the cult being obvious threats from the start, the attempts at introducing low-quality and obvious CGI that highlights quite a cheesy nature and the comic relief of the characters, this one gives off the idea of the cheesy genre feature quite heavily and it's not always appreciated. That's due to the inserts at times that aren't always funny or seemingly there for a reason, creating a somewhat odd and uneven tone here that isn't always in league with the rest of the film and giving this a rather off-putting tone for some. Still, it's about the only thing really wrong here which is based on individual basis.
Overview: **** 1/2/5
A wholly fun and enjoyable genre effort that's full of all the right elements to be quite fun, overall the main problems to be had here are more on individual preferences leading this to be quite the entertaining effort. Give this a shot if you're a fan of the sleazy features of this style or find this kind of throwback effort enjoyable, while those that aren't swayed by this one should heed caution.
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