Director: Brad Twigg
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Nature-Runs-Amok; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
After a sketchy drug deal gone awry, tainted cocaine gets lost in the woods and gets devoured by a mischievous raccoon which turns it into a raving killer taking out everything it comes into contact with, and after leaving a trail of destruction in the woods turns to a group of partying friends.
Review:
Overall, this was a phenomenal effort with a lot to like about it. One of the finer aspects of this one is the admittedly cheesy yet still wildly fun setup that brings about the ensuing chaos. The first half of this offers up a strong series of interconnecting storylines about the residents in the community, whether it be the drug addicts looking for a new score, the friends going on vacation at a remote cabin in the area, or the other random locals that are involved with everything, all bring this one along quite nicely. The interconnecting story about the dealers distributing everything to the various groups as a way of spreading the whole thing across the community so that the first instances of it infecting people turn them into raving psychotic madmen while the raccoon is turned into a similarly maniacal and ravenous creature as a result so everything gets quite a solid start.
That provides the framework for a slew of outrageously over-the-top and gloriously fun attack scenes involving the drugged-out raccoon going on a rampage. The initial encounters with the creature where it takes out the dealers or the disbelieving hunters allow for a great start to things as the raving antics of the creature are immensely fun at providing a way of realistically making such an implausible-seeming scenario come off. Other big attack scenes, with it raging across a campground or the wild scene involving it wiping out the congregation in the woods in graphic fashion, are equally fun and prepare this for the wild finale as it attacks the friends in the cabin taking them out one at a time in equally striking fashion. The gore in these kills are fantastically fun indie-style setpieces, and the concepts behind these scenes make for a great time when added alongside the gloriously cheesy puppet used for the creature that all provide quite a bit to like here.
There isn’t much to dislike here as the majority of the factors that can be flaws are mainly personal preference factors rather than genuine drawbacks. The inability to take things seriously in the finale where they constantly ignore common sense to continuously get themselves into trouble. After having spotted the creatures’ handiwork across the countryside and found wounded survivors, the officer decides to forego getting them to safety to check on his wife which just feels quite unrealistic in the situation. As this fits in the story due to the resulting actions, that’s not a big deal but does highlight the rest of the film taking on unrealistic and unnatural actions for the sake of the story. As well, there’s also the usual slew of indie-based flaws on display that have to be taken into account, from the props to the make-up work, general presentation, and overall appearance that scream out its origins but aren’t detrimental to this one unless that genuinely affects the viewer.
Overview: *****/5
A near-flawless comedic indie creature feature, there’s quite a lot to like here that manages to bring about an immensely fun time compared to only a couple of small drawbacks. Those who enjoy this kind of indie genre effort, are curious about this kind of film, or are fans of the creative crew will want to give this a shot while only those turned off by the approach here should heed caution.
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