Director: Maria Lee Metheringham
Year: 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Living in a remote English village, a group of hooligans manages to upset the owner of a prize-winning pumpkin patch enough to kill him only to have his feed mix with his blood to become a deformed, mutated monstrous killer who runs wild through the area forcing the locals to try to stop him.
Review:
This one was a pretty decent indie slasher. One of the strongest aspects here is the rather intriguing storyline about the connection between the killer and his love for the pumpkins he grows. As we’re immediately dropped into the life he and his daughter live on the farm where they tend to grow them on a near-continuous basis that upsets the band of local hooligans that sets off the reaction within the film, it’s exceptionally economic as that’s all explained within the first minutes of the film. While this might be done at the expense of realistic storytelling since these explanations about their connection to the farm and the nature of their relationship with the rest of the locals who take to shouting insults and egging the house simply for being who they are, this still works as a solid slasher setup.
That setup manages to serve the actual slashing scenes quite nicely as the reanimated killer heads out to stalk and kill the various members around the woods. From the ambush on the hooligans around their home to the stellar stalking of the couple stranded off the road nearby and the later scenes out in the woods, there are some fine indie-flavored scenes here that promote the sudden shock appearance of the killer over drawn-out suspense sequences. When he turns his attention to the hikers out in the woods, this one turns into a much more engaging effort with the killer able to psychically control pumpkins to move around and attack on their own in addition to heading out on his own to chop the citizens up who go traipsing through the woods. Overall, these here are what make this one a somewhat enjoyable indie slasher effort.
This one does have a few flaws with it. One of the main issues is that for a premise this flimsy it’s expected to have a ridiculous setup that shows the punks as having no realistic or credible motivation for instigating things as they do. That they’re so infuriated with him simply for his owning land that they don’t comes off as laughable and completely unrealistic, especially with so little time to get to know why they’re acting like that or what their previous history with the farm is really about, that this whole backstory serves merely as a pretext for unleashing the killer and not caring about the protagonists who do so as it’s all done at the expense of explaining anything.
The other real issue to be had here is the limitations served on it by the lack of budget available. Despite a crisp running time, this one seemed to indulge in useless padding including continuous jokes at the expense of the inexperienced hikers who are more accustomed to city life than being out in the woods or an excruciating song being played over-and-over in the tavern she runs to for help. These are way too long for a film like this and don’t have many purposes being here in a story such as this. As well, despite the high body-count much of the gore is off-screen with just the aftermath showed or filmed in a manner as to hide the actual mode of death with just blood splatter or dripping from the victims’ mouth that contributes to the cheap and cheesy feel of this one. On the whole, these issues are what hold the film down.
Overview: **/5
A fine enough indie slasher that has enough going for it to be watchable enough though the flaws do stand out somewhat, this doesn’t really stand out from the pack but works decently enough if you’re going into this. Those that appreciate indie slashers or are aficionados of similar style films might be inclined to enjoy this one, while those with no appreciation for these styles should heed caution if not outright avoid it.
Comments
Post a Comment