Director: John Adams, Toby Poser, Zelda Adams
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Living in a floundering carnival, a group of workers trying to make due during the Great Depression find themselves under the spell of a gruesome object in the possession of a popular act in the carnival with them which forces them into a massive killing spree to find a better life for themselves.
Review:
This was a massively disappointing and nearly unwatchable genre effort. Among it’s only positive points here stem from the technical qualities on display which are genuinely impressive at capturing a haunting, dark mood. The period setting, the miserable existence working in the type of environment that looks like a soul-crushing existence, and the general lifestyle of the various participants they stumble across in the rampage they commit secures this kind of atmosphere incredibly well. Even with the way this plays out that shows the descent into madness that they fall into, with each of the family members shown to have a special liability that helps to make the plight seem all the more dynamic and ingrained into this atmospheric setting. Coupled rather nicely with the genuinely gruesome and bloody kills featured here which come about not just through the carnival acts but also the incredibly graphic murders they engage in as the sense of the curse carries out, these are enough to give this one some positives.
There are some massively disappointing detriments on display with this one. The main drawback here is the absolutely draining and just plain dull pace that this one plays at where it’s not really that interesting in the slightest. The tempo is a major part of this where it’s just so slow-going and plodding that there’s very little chances to do something interesting with a clunk storyline that doesn’t warrant this type of length so it’s sluggish means of carrying out the family’s destructive rampage or the inner workings of the carnival where their work with the sacred heart for their deal is all just so bland and dull it’s not that interesting. That factor is the other big factor here, where even though this goes for the type of in-depth analysis on the family it does very little makes them endearing or worth following in this type of feature as so little of it tends to just become quite uninteresting. Added with some obvious anachronistic tendencies that give its setting away, these bring the film down overall.
Overview: */5
Barely worthwhile unless you’re looking for a specific quality here, this is massively disappointing overall and really only works for a special subset of genre fans more than anything. This is mainly for those who prefer this kind of slow-burn period-piece feature or are fans of the creative crew while most others who are turned off by the flaws should heed extreme caution with this one.
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