Director: Charlie Steeds
Year: 2017
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Heading out for a family get-together, a family arrives in the English countryside to enjoy a refreshing catch-up but a series of incidents strands them there to look for help at a local farm only to find the owners are cannibalistic flesh-peddlers looking to include them in their business and try to leave alive.
Review:
This was a rather solid if somewhat flawed effort. Among its better aspects is the enjoyable setup that manages to get everything going rather nicely. Getting an immediate backstory to the killer and his deformed appearance, the history of atrocities committed at the farm, and the fractured family going through their own issues and relationships, this one gets quite a lot out that manages to get a familiar enough storyline cobbled together to work quite nicely. The motive of revenge based on the treatment of his son is a worthwhile starting point, while the bickering and squabbling allow them to have a solid redemption ark based on how we’re initially introduced to them.
From there, the film gets quite fun with the events on the farm and the revelations that occur there. From getting the drop on the family to capture them in a special action sequence chasing them around the farm to the treatment bestowed upon them by being locked and chained inside electrified cages, these scenes offer a quite horrific form and mental and physical torture as the family comes and constantly threaten them only to have the tables turned in a series of surprise revelations that are quite nice and thrilling. With the resulting scenes getting some impressive bloodshed and gore for this kind of indie effort, there’s a lot to like here that holds it up over its minor flaws.
This one does have a few issues with it. The main issue is the fact that this one runs on a bit too long with some questionable storylines and scenes that don’t really do this many favors. The main factor with the twist about the real reason for the trip makes no sense and just seems to eat up time for no reason, much like the constant back-and-forth nature between the two of them over their argumentative business which just goes on way too long to be any significance with how it intersects in the later half. The same goes for the epilogue which tries to go for poignant impact but just fails miserably at doing so, instead making this feel like it should’ve ended way before.
The other factor to lowering this one is the rather lame killer here, who's quite intimidating with a rather lame mask, average body type, and no real forceful attitude judging by the way he cowers from a fight and gets taken out barely an hour into the movie. That doesn't make for an imposing figure to be scared of, while that final sequence brings up an intriguing plot point that's quite underwritten with the reveal of the killer's switch and what happened to him. Both sides are right in what they believe happened yet they never correct each other with the contradiction which would've had a better realization scene. It's a massively confusing series of events and makes for a wholly disappointing story overall for the film's issues.
Overview: ***/5
A fun if unexceptional genre effort, this is a solid enough take on the genre as long as the detrimental factors here aren't considered huge personal drawbacks since they can impact the film more than anything. Those who are fine with those factors, appreciate this kind of indie fare, or are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here while others turned off by the approach taken here will want to heed caution.
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