Director: MJ Dixon
Year: 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
On the eve of her birthday, a woman wanting to party with her friends against her parents’ strict wishes is taken away to an abandoned school by her friends to have the party anyway, unaware they’re being followed by a ritualistic hulking killer looking to include her in a special sacrifice.
Review:
For the most part, there’s a lot to like with this one. One of the finer aspects of the film is the intriguing and generally enjoyable storyline offering a fun twist on the nature of a family curse mixed with more modern slasher aesthetics. The central idea of the killer appearing and chasing after the mother of a child in a local hospital to continue his goal of appearing every Leap Year to wreak havoc on the citizens in town that includes the parents knowing full well what’s going on and trying not to let their daughter fall victim by insisting on special precautions for her birthday celebrations. As everything comes together throughout the film including the series of rituals taken by the parents and other townsfolk to ensure their protection against Thorn while being unaware of the clandestine party being held at the abandoned school that her friends are throwing for her which draws the killer to them, the setup here manages to have quite a lot to like about it.
That all sets the stage for the series of impressive stalking scenes featuring the hulking killer making his way through the cast. Opening on an impressive rampage in a hospital taking out multiple victims looking for his target that includes some suspenseful moments and several gruesome kills, there’s a lot of fun to be had here before flashing forward to the modern story. The incredibly chilling setpieces in the abandoned school offer up plenty of fun as the clueless group is slowly slaughtered off in graphic fashion which leads to even more carnage as the darkened hallways, lack of lighting, and general disarray at the situation are put to good use. These offer up some classic slasher-style setups that go along nicely with the cult-like action taking place in the main hallway later on where the series of storyline reveals take place to help fill in the gaps of what’s going on, generally giving this one quite a lot to like overall.
There are some slight drawbacks here that bring this one down. The main issue here is the somewhat unnecessary length this one has for the kind of slasher effort. There’s quite a lot going on here, mainly the involvement of the special cult and their connection to the killer going on around town that has to be explored as to why he’s come back and the other figure going around trying to look for the daughter which is all expected yet still manages to drag out a lot of the running time. As well, the interactions with her friends while trying to go about their plans for the party which are the usual series of rich people belittling the poor friend, none of that is interesting enough to carry on as long as it does so it tends to make the film’s running time noticeable. The low budget also shines through at points but isn’t as detrimental as the other issues.
Overview: ****/5
A rather fun and generally enjoyable genre effort, there’s a lot going for this one that manages to hold itself up enough over a few minor drawbacks that aren’t that detrimental. Those with an interest in this one’s central setup, enjoy this style of slasher throwback, or appreciate the creative crew’s previous offerings will have a lot to like here while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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