Director: Erik Bloomquist
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After a series of strange attacks, residents of a small town on the verge of a heated mayoral election are thrust into a deadly race to stop the maniac responsible for the actions as the sides of the debate turn into a sideshow trying to be the main culprit to follow through the whole affair.
Review:
There's very little to this one that's worthwhile. Among the few positives to be had here is the potential setup to be had with the relationships between the culprits in the middle of the election. The idea of the various characters enjoying a clandestine romance and trying to follow through with their plans to be together while the figure goes around knocking people off trying to incite a slew of high-intensity clashes between the two different factors in the political sphere that keep growing throughout the film. This is enhanced by the various attack scenes where an impressive mask and costume to hide their identity springs into action with a nice collection of ambushes involving a brutal death manner for its scenes that are pretty much the only positives to be had here.
There are plenty of issues to be had here that are massive detriments to this one. The main factor is the utterly asinine storyline that tries to take the political leanings of its setup but is grossly mishandled. Trying to set up the warring factors of the debate as caricatures of the political spectrum who are more concerned with their standings in the days leading up to their election makes everyone out to be immensely unsympathetic due to the unrealistic nature of this behavior. It comes off as incredibly forced trying to make sure that they're grandstanding is seen as the key to their election rather than trying to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding them as it leads to several ill-timed points trying to keep this going.
As well, there are plenty of issues to be had with the inability to properly work as a slasher film. The majority of the kills here are immensely brutal and gruesome in concept but the execution is grossly lacking, being shot so haphazardly that it's impossible to tell what's going on or just taking place off-screen to the point that it's impossible not to get any enjoyment out of these scenes. Since the kills are done with an impressive weapon and design, the inability to focus on this factor makes for a disappointing time here since the lack of focus on the kills is a factor that could've saved this one but due to the general lack of focus, it makes for a highly uninvolved time.
The other factor here, which also ties into the lack of slashing, is the wholly disjointed and petty reasoning for the motivation behind everything. Due to the revelations made at this point, the idea of instigating the rampage as a way of getting revenge on the unscrupulous ex to get back at them for cheating on them is a backward plan much like the idea of killing off the friend for trying to better their lives without them. The means do not justify the results here, offering up tons of plot holes throughout this plan that get revealed along the way to put such a plot into motion, and with the whole affair being wrapped up in an ugly production scale, unlikable characters that we're supposed to follow, and way too long a running time there's a lot to bring this down.
Overview: */5
A wholly underwhelming and barely worthwhile genre effort, this one manages to have a few decent ideas that save it but way too many drawbacks that provides a crippling experience overall. Those who appreciate this particular style or are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here while most others out there who don’t enjoy any of these factors should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment