Director: Dustin Ferguson
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Forced to live with her traumatic past, a woman who escaped the clutches of a psychotic meathook-wielding killer tries to move on with her life, but when a fellow survivor of their attacks brings news that they’re moving towards her in a massive rampage to finish what they started she’s forced to fight them once again.
Review:
Overall, this one was a decent enough entry in the series. Like most of the franchise entries, the film works incredibly well at unleashing a series of solid and brutal confrontations with the killer that tends to revolve around the usual qualities of the series. The energetic and brutal outcomes here, revolving around the initial confrontation with the camping couple in the wilderness, a strong ambush on a boyfriend in a stalled car or the flashback sequences that show the killer in action stalking her girlfriends or the reporters’ own encounters with them that still maintain a fun sense about them getting the brutal killer in action for some tense moments here. These provide the perfect setup for the big encounter at the end that generates some excitement with the stalking and chasing through the area.
On top of that, there’s also the highly enjoyable and worthwhile storyline that attempts to bring together a sense of cohesion to the events of the franchise. Focusing on the traumatic memories of hers that have tormented her life since the original encounter with the killer, the impact on her life is obvious and quite fun to see play out here. As the quest to get better provides the impetus for the flashbacks that explain those events in detail to the point of understanding the turmoil she’s lived with since, there’s a wholly immersive and sympathetic experience here, which is bolstered by Danielle Brookshire‘s engaging performance as the troubled Dani that sells the trauma she’s lived with the entire time. These are what hold the film up for the most part.
There are a few flaws present in this one. One of the biggest drawbacks is the amount of wasted time in the running length throughout here. This is most obviously spent on scenery insert shots, mostly centered on the setups for a big stalking scene where it goes around and features close-up scenes of bushes, strange plants and the general surroundings in a small montage that gets repetitive and overdone quite easily. As well, the flashbacks to the other events that eat up a solid ten minutes or just around there that could’ve been provided with a shortened montage that wouldn’t require as much time as this one does utilizing those elements. As a whole, these end up causing the film to be noticeably lacking in stalking and kills to make way for these time-wasting aspects.
As well, the other lone factor against this also springs from the hackneyed and utterly lame reasoning for the experiment to take place with the family. This attempt at a conspiracy theory explanation that attempts to tie in the family’s existence and psychotic behavior as a result of a government-funded plan to help ward off the unfit to survive in society and letting them be placed at the center of it all is incredibly underwhelming and unlikely. It also hurts that it comes off at the very end of the strong chase scene to get away with a tacked-on mindset to bring a more chilling reasoning that doesn’t feel needed, which along with the franchise-long low-budget look and feel that is a personal taste than anything else are what hold this one down.
Overview: **.5/5
As a decent enough effort in the series with some solid stalking and brutality on-hand, it’s enough to make it watchable although it is plagued by some questionable concepts and extensive time-chewing flashbacks that hold up the film somewhat. It’s still a worthwhile effort for fans of the franchise, the creative crew or those appreciative of indie slashers while those turned off by the flaws or the style of effort present here should heed caution.
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