Director: Todd Chamberlain
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After getting word of an impending foreclosure, a woman and her sons find themselves forced to desperate measures to keep their house, and upon discovering they can sell human meat from estranged travelers kidnap a teen and her friends to be used as the next ones included in their nefarious project.
Review:
This was a pretty decent indie effort. What works best here is the rather fun work this does to present the main family as a group of deranged and degenerate psychopaths. While there's plenty of mention about how their mental capacities are quite low, the erratic behavior and nature of them while being around their mother or holding the various victims' hostage while trying to work out the details of their clandestine operation all offer up a rather enjoyable build-up here involving the psychotic nature of the family. This early build-up, as well as including the prologue involving the car accident and resulting need to resort to killing passersby brings about a nice feel as the idea about their desperation and the bizarre antics creates a great setup.
As well, there's a lot to like here with the involvement of the friends when they run into the family. This manages to focus on their early torture of the random victims, from the stranded victims they come across on the road to the way they manage to bring the group together with the trip to the swimming hole that leads them into the family’s hands. This is all quite enjoyable enough with the fun games that get played with the group out in the barn which leads into the fun finale where everything comes together into a series of brawls for the upper hand against the family or some chasing through the woods as they try to escape. With this all coming up with some solid and appealing indie gore for the somewhat gruesome kills, the film comes off as rather enjoyable and entertaining.
This one does have a few slight issues. The main problem is a somewhat lengthy and overlong running time for this kind of story that tends to make it drag at places. A lot of this is the investigation into the missing persons who are in the area as the police investigation during the middle of the film as the lack of action here doesn’t generate much interest in the process. The general feeling is the traditional brand of clueless small-town sheriff incompetently trying to solve a case which is readily apparent yet playing it as if there’s something secretive to be found-out. Alongside the constantly cutting back-and-forth to the psycho family in their business and the daughter leaving with her friends, the general pacing is a bit off which when combined with the low-budget indie feel in the film holds it back the most.
Overview: **.5/5
Far better than expected with the fun setup and nice brutality running through its indie-flavored streak, this one is undone by just a few minor issues that may or not be truly detrimental anyway. Give it a look if you’re a fan of these indie-styled slashers or are intrigued by this one, while those who prefer more straightforward efforts or turned off by the issues should heed caution.
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