Director: Jason Horton
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After pulling off a successful heist, a group of thieves heads out to a remote house in the countryside as a safe house until they can leave with their loot, but when they arrive, they find themselves stuck in a feud between families of monstrous creatures and must get away alive.
Review:
On the whole, this was a massively entertaining and likable monster movie. Among its many positives is a fantastic, action-packed story that not only provides the film with plenty of opportunities for action but also manages to generate a series of solid storylines. Getting the group out to the farmhouse in the middle of nowhere under the employ of a heist and the house as a safe house to rest while waiting for the means of successful extraction with their goods works quite well to start this one off. It uses this to drop the group into a long-standing feud between a local clan on the one side and a race of vicious tree-like creatures on the other, but the hints that something’s not right with the way the captors keep them together at their compound are rather fun.
This is a solid hint that a second-half twist involving the dark nature of their captors and the nature of the feud itself. There’s a lot of fun to be had with how it turns into a far more intriguing monster-versus-monster setup when the captors are revealed to be a historical race of creatures looking to use the group of robbers as breeding stock to replenish their numbers after years of war. There's also a solid subplot involving the different antagonistic relationships in place between the family of creatures on the compound that gets played with and twisted around, changing allegiances in the second half rather nicely to keep it interesting alongside the involved monster against monster routine.
As well, there’s also quite a lot to like here, featuring the actual creature attacks, as this lets the film contain plenty of great action scenes. From the initial encounters with the tree creatures before being aware of the whole feud, the encounter in the woods taking out the members of the robbers, and the initial appearance by the plant creatures at the farmhouse all start the film off on a strong note that hints at what’s to come. The second half involving the full-scale war between the creatures and the family creates plenty of great action throughout here with the big battle between both sides at the farm house, offering some standout gore in the multitude of brutal kills but also the practical suits on the plant creatures which look incredibly realistic, all of which make this rather effective overall.
There isn’t much to dislike here, but it does have a few small drawbacks. The main issue with this one is a small issue with the large cast on display, making it difficult to keep track of everyone and their allegiances at times. With the family having multiple generations of members present as well as spies and familiars trying to ensure they have enough forces coming to help aid them in their war against the plant creatures that it starts to get somewhat difficult to manage who’s who when they’re named only once and characters are similar in terms of features or appearance. The introduction of all these characters when the group arrives at the farm does make that section a bit sluggish in terms of pacing compared to the rest of the film, but these are the only real factors holding it back.
Overview: ****.5/5
A wholly impressive and enjoyable indie creature feature, there’s not much to dislike in this one, which means the multitude of positives are all the more effective at making this one rather enjoyable. Those with an interest in this style of genre fare or rare fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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