Director: Mark Byrne
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Hoping to finish his work, a man stops off at a small town bed-and-breakfast with several other guests hoping to stay there, but when the guests start to mysteriously disappear before the reservations are fulfilled, they believe it might be the cause of a serial killer in the area and try to stop him.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable indie effort. A lot of the fun here comes from the solid setup that presents a classic drawing-room mystery with a somewhat more modern touch. Grabbing the victims as residents of a remote bed-and-breakfast location that just so happens to be the latest target of a mysterious serial killer manages to be a fantastic enough setting to provide all the necessary factors in this type of story. Not only does it have a great first half providing the kind of background and backstory on the individuals around the location staying there who have their own issues to deal with, from the bickering owners of the building, the confrontational sisters who are looking to continue their blogging career, the family trying to reconnect on their vacation, and the traveler staying there after visiting the area for an errand from his wife. That they so happen to stumble upon the idea of the killer that everyone seemingly is looking for who’s got connections to the killer allows for some fun world-building as well for an enjoyable setup.
That setup allows for a solid series of slasher encounters with the killer appearing and taking others out. The initial setup at the woods taking out the first victims offers some fun stalking scenes much like the scenes involving the killer taking out the first group of travelers to the area which brings about the type of indie-style ambush sequences. The lengthier scenes featuring the flashback scenes of the couples out camping who are taken out in the woods feature some fantastic stalking scenes where the masked madman begins taking out the oblivious group in various scenes offering a chance at getting some gory deaths and the fun of the group’s actions giving some fun encounters. Moreso, the finale where the killer runs rampant in the bed-and-breakfast coming across a slew of guests or workers and bringing about some fun stalking scenes and kills is a fun frenetic touch here that works rather nicely to give this a lot to like.
There are a few minor drawbacks that show up throughout here. The main issue with this one is a typically bizarre structure in most indie films where it continually introduces new characters into the equation simply because of the manner in which it was filmed. With the different characters coming into play at various points in the timeline and encountering the killer, taking lengthy tangents to see them play out as full sequences, or just including random strangers for the sake of including the types of filming this does make for a slightly jarring experience knowing the tricks of how that was accomplished. There’s little that can be done about this point but it becomes quite obvious once it’s noticed, much like the expected low-budget features here which are also featured quite heavily and become easy to spot. Luckily, these aren’t too detrimental even if they do hold it back.
Overview: ***.5/5
An immensely fun indie genre effort, there are some fun elements at play that make for a solid enough time and help to overcome the few minor flaws that do appear here. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare, are fine with the issues present, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like while those turned off by these factors should heed caution.
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