WTF! (2017) by Peter Herro

Director: Peter Herro
Year: 2017
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher

Plot:
Heading back to her hometown, a young woman initially attending a friends' party in the wilderness finds herself subjected to another massacre after having survived a bloodbath several years earlier and must use the resources she learned previously to help save her and her friends.

Review:

This here wasn't all that bad of an effort. One of the more enjoyable elements featured here is the fact that this one really lets itself go with a rapid-fire pace that is highly engaging. Due to the short running time here, this one doesn't have much downtime where it stays really straightforward for large sections here, as the opening pool party doesn't have much beyond the need for their introduction and setting the excuse for their trip and from there it doesn't really let loose since there's little in the way of pacing issues once they start on their trip. Since the inclusion of the interviewing process is included among the time to help speed it all along there's a convenient excuse to move it along, that helps nicely to give this a somewhat intriguing and enjoyable pace.

As well, the film also manages to include some incredibly enjoyable slasher set-pieces that really make this one quite fun. Starting with the remnants of the massacre at the beginning with the last remaining victims as well as the intercut sequences of the different events around her triggering the incidents of the past in the second incident, there's some solid groundwork laid-out here for going into the series of encounters in the final half. That features a slew of rather fun stalking scenes around the darkened house as the figure comes out of the darkness for some surprise attacks, leading to the confrontations in the game room, the surprise brawl in the bedroom and a fine solo attack that features some brutal action as this one leads into a somewhat decent finale. Overall, these here are what hold it up over it's flaws.

One of the biggest and most egregious flaws here is the utterly unlikable and just plain awful group of main characters that are just completely impossible to get into. This is among the candidates for the most unlikable group of so-called friends in the genre as they seem to exist solely to curse constantly, screw each other over at the drop of a hat and basically only there to get bumped off as nearly everything here makes you want them to get killed. The fact that they constantly force out opinions that cause everyone around them to call them perverts, openly cheat on their girlfriends all in the name of getting sexual satisfaction from somebody in the group and then waving around the exploits of cheating on each other instead of banding together to survive their ordeal as they know a killer is on the loose stalking and killing them makes them completely unlikable and despicable.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the film's incredibly low-budget nature manages to undermine this at various points as well. Not only is the house cheaply furnished and just pathetic looking as a location to be, there's almost no money for any kind of traditional slasher work to be offered here. The stalking scenes, regardless of the action they pump into the pacing, are just rather limp and lifeless for the most part and keep the film from really exploiting what could've been a fun little slasher idea. The kills are shot in such darkness you don't know what's going on and even the aftermath is pretty crudely handled for the most part, and the budget as well manages to hold the finale's twist from diving into a real shock since it doesn't hit with any kind of impact. There's not even a competent idea at play in the sequence, and for the most part it holds this one back the most along with the other big flaw.

Overview: ** 1/2/5
With a couple of rather prominent and overly-detrimental issues that crop up throughout here, this is a somewhat problematic is still slightly entertaining slasher piece. Give this a shot if you're in the mood for a basic, low-budget indie-styled slasher while those who prefer more substance to their films should heed caution.