Director: Lee Foster
Year: 2023
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: Hetzhund - The Duke of Crows
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
While trying to decide what to do, a pair of friends on a weekend getaway come across a group of businessmen lost on their way to a party and decide to stop off at a remote cabin, but when they get interrupted by a demonic creature’s rampage band together with a fallen priest to stop it.
Review:
This was a problematic if still somewhat decent enough indie effort. Among the film’s bright spots is the generally fine creature action that takes place here. With the practical effects being utilized more often that not, even with the deaths on display, it helps to add a fun cheesy attitude to the scenes of the creature running around the wilderness attacking the partygoers hanging out in the cabin, the couple screwing in the outhouse, or the battle with the married couple at their house that includes a fantastic stalking scene through the house to add a little bit of variety to everything. The finale, bringing together some occult action and figuring out some rather impressive twists to what’s going on, is what provides the most to like with this one.
That said, there are plenty of problems with this one. One of the biggest issues here is the overwrought and oftentimes unbearable cast that we’re forced to follow which makes this such a hard one to get into. The different groups that we follow are, individually, not that interesting or enjoyable to b around spending the majority of the running time arguing about their plans getting turned around or yelling at their comments for being a moron. Hardly any of these makes for agreeable behavior to be around, and when put together in such a lazy manner as it does here how they come together to come under attack by the creature with such a lazy piece of writing as it does here manages to give this one such a troubling start to things.
That goes into the other issue with this one in that it’s far too dull and plodding to make any kind of impression here. The convoluted plot and numerous characters on display are at fault here, making for a lot of the running time keeping its various issues intact so it all comes off without much in the way of excitement unless the creature is attacking. It’s not until the ending stages that this one really generates any kind of traction in that regard but it’s all too little too late for this one with the unnecessary side-stories and tangents getting introduced which leaves quite a lot of the film to be uninteresting overall. When combined with the overall cheapness on display with its low-budget origins, these features are enough to lower this one quite a bit.
Overview: */5
An overall underwhelming and problematic creature feature, there’s enough to like with this one to be watchable at best but it’s got too many flaws to really rise much higher than that. Those that appreciate this style or are generally curious about it will be the main audience here while most others that aren’t into these features or turned off by the flaws should heed caution.
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