Director: Ben J. Williams
Year: 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Following a string of disappearances, a detective decides to investigate a supposed suspect in the area who’s found to be duping call girls in the area back to his place and offering them up as sacrifices to a group of demonic beings summoned through a sacred ritual and tries to stop it before it continues.
Review:
This was a rather solid if slightly flawed genre effort. One of the finer features of this one is the intriguing setup that provides a rather strong starting point for the introduction of the various plot points present. The initial crux of the story being based on the investigation of the missing prostitutes from the specific section of the city and how it leads her into the lifestyle where it brings her into contact with the suspected killer and his black magic ways give the first half a rather solid start. Keeping things a bit low-key looking into the history of the criminal and the crossover with the skeevy lifestyle at the center of the situation, this is all quite solid enough in giving context to everything going on around them while still maintaining a far classier vibe with the material that slowly turns into a darker overall setup for a lot to like with this.
That leads into the other fun part here where the outcome of the situation is a solid series of kill scenes offering the demonic creatures getting involved in the various sacrifices. Despite the setup of the whole affair, there’s quite a lot to like with the way the robotic creatures are brought about and start graphically dismembering their unsuspecting victim where the gruesome concept and stellar practical effects allow for some fun times. The series of scenes featuring the women being led in as sacrifices are all quite cheesy fun here while the later scene of them ambushing one of her friends to take her off their scent comes off well enough before leading into the big finale where the reveals about the kind of ritual that has to be performed in a certain way and how it connects to the setup brings about a generally fun finish to this one which gives this one a lot to like here.
There are some minor issues present that hold this one down. The main issue with this one is the way it treats the source material it’s ripping on which is quite oddly structured here. Rather than opt for the robotic animatronics brought to life that the original is based on, the origin of the creatures here is based on a different source altogether that still bizarrely allows them to retain their robotic influences with their appearance and behavior that just comes off quite weird. This causes them to be quite at odds with each other overall which brings about a strange tonal shift in the way they’re presented alongside the other issue with the repetitive nature of how these scenes come off. With the ritual required to bring everything along, all of these scenes being repetitive by design doesn’t help them stand out beyond the graphic carnage committed, and with the low-budget featured throughout here are the issues holding it back.
Overview: ***.5/5
A rather solid if somewhat slightly flawed genre effort, this one is fun enough for what it is and has some enjoyable positives to help counter a couple of issues that hold it back. Those who are fine with this style of genre fare or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like with this one while most others out there that don’t like these factors should heed caution with this one.
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