Brute 1976 (2025) by Marcel Walz

Director: Marcel Walz

Year: 2025

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Heading out to the desert, a group from a model agency hoping to get a new photoshoot underway in the area runs afoul of a gang of murderous, masked psychopaths operating in a remote town, killing anyone they come across and forcing them to fight off the creatures to get away alive.

Review:

On the whole, this was a fairly solid enough slasher. Among the better qualities on display with the film stems from a truly simplistic and likable throwback-style plot that allows it to capture the spirit and tone of that era. The way it starts up, getting the group stranded in the middle of nowhere while going through the desert and finding the interruption to their shoot is the result of a group of psychopaths in the area living in an abandoned desert town, gets this off to a strong start. The whole idea is pretty cliched as a whole, but it allows for the requisite material to come about where we get to know the group as they wait for their missing friend unaware that she’s been kidnapped, a few brief moments with the killer suggesting their intentions with the kidnapped model that allows for some intriguing sequences showing the shoot taking place while the family is torturing her.

By the time it gets to the stalking scenes, this is quite impressive and enjoyable, as there’s a lot to like there as well. With the opening sequence showing how the kidnapped model gets abducted when she and a friend get stranded in their ghost town home and encounter the family, the chase to get her back after an escape attempt, and it only gets better once they arrive at the abandoned town themselves. This extended series of setpieces brings together a lot of rather fun elements, from brutal over-the-top kills, some suspenseful stalking scenes, and a great use of the eeriness of the location to help build the idea of what’s going on. The series of reveals and revelations about all of this makes for a generally fun time as it takes a series of left turns and unexpected diversions regarding who the tribe really is and what their purpose is all about, leading to some fun along the way and plenty of solid encounters packed with gore, giving this a lot to like.

There are some factors here that hold this one down. The main issue present in this one stems from an overlong and unnecessary running time that takes this one far too long to get going. The opening attack in the underground mines takes over ten minutes to resolve when it had no business doing so, the group dynamics at the photoshoot are full of individual moments that could’ve been sniped for being unnecessary to what’s being told, and the general structure of the finale makes it feel somewhat meandering with its revelations merely to generate the kind of enhanced confrontations that are nothing more than excuses to keep the film running for as long as it does. That comes together in the final half, where the full revelations are just insanely stupid and focus on so many different ideas about the family that make a rather complicated setup that doesn’t need to be, keeping this one down overall.

Overview: ***/5

A generally solid if slightly overlong genre effort, there’s a lot to like here when it comes to being a simplistic slasher homage, even if there are some drawbacks on display with this one. Those with an appreciation for this kind of feature, appreciate this kind of approach in general, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have a lot to like, while most others should heed caution here.