Goatman (2023) by Trey Murphy

Director: Trey Murphy

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Working on a news story, a reporter and her team head into the local woods with several locals to check on the whereabouts of a local legend involving a mysterious creature killing all who enter the woods, but they soon come face to face with a different but far more dangerous threat.

Review:

This was a rather fun genre effort that does have some slight issues. One of the better aspects of the film is the generally likable setup that features some intriguing elements. The main setup of the news crew trying to come up with a means of looking into the legend that haunts the area and heading into the woods to get their story is a solid enough idea, and with the backstory of the creature’s presence in the area coming off just in-depth enough to provide the kind of proper setup for this type of film. As well, there’s the backstory about the crew coming into play as well giving off enough of a general setup that the film comes off well enough for what it is. This proves to be the perfect way to get a series of solid confrontations with the titular creature and the backwoods family that they come into contact with. These range from the decent shock encounters like the ambush on the teens who resurrected it with the Ouija board, the various deaths doled out by the family, or the final means of how they escape the woods bringing about the gory aftermath for practical effects which are fun enough to keep this going.

There are some big issues with this one that holds it back. The main drawback with the film is the dull first half which doesn’t have much of anything going on during a majority of this section. Mainly consisting of the exploits of the group preparing to start their search, the vast majority here plays out in an endless stream of sleazy come-ons by the producer that wouldn’t fly in any way, shape, or form that is repeated often enough to be a complete turnoff with all the repetition in play. On top of that, it tends to just wander around the woods with the group talking about the different sidestories involved here which just comes off incredibly lame with the repetition of these scenes going nowhere. Also, there are banal and uninteresting attempts at social commentary on the nature of the media in how they disseminate the news to others by portraying the studio as heartless souls more concerned with corporate sponsorships and how they trick the public for the sake of providing entertainment that doesn’t need to be there due to being so cliched none of it matters. These become the main detriments at play here.

Overview: ***/5

A rather fun if somewhat slightly flawed genre effort, this one does have some likable points about it that are enough to make up for a few pretty big issues to hold it back. Give it a look if you’re a fan of this style of indie effort or curious about it overall, while most others out there should heed caution.