A Splatter Film

Rating: 4/10 (25 October 2012)

I bought this movie recently under the mistaken assumption that it was a zombie film. At least that's what a zombie site on the internet said. Needless to say, this is NOT a film about zombies. At least it's not about zombies in the traditional sense. It's more about demonic possession. Regardless, this is a great low-budget film for those who enjoy the splatter film genre. Gore hounds will simply love it. Horror fans might like it too depending on which style of horror they prefer. But this isn't Hitchcock or even Stephen King for that matter. Like I said, it's a splatter film and because of that it revels in graphic special effects and violence. Now, some of the special effects are very good. Unfortunately, some of them are downright silly and (in my opinion) lowers the film's value. Likewise, the acting is essentially non-existent. But that's not through any fault of the actors necessarily. The fact is that there simply wasn't any room for acting or much dialogue due to the huge amount of brutal action and special effects. And while I recognized Bruce Campbell, the rest of the actors were completely unknown to me. Not that it really mattered of course as nobody was going to win an Academy Award for their roles in this movie anyway. It did however manage to win a Saturn Award for "Best Low-Budget Film" and that is certainly quite an achievement. Even so, the fact that it is a low-budget film doesn't necessarily mean that everybody should overlook the obvious faults and pretend they don't exist. Things like dialogue, plot and character development are important and shouldn't be dismissed because the special effects are so plentiful or gory. After all, it doesn't cost much money to write a script. It also doesn't require much imagination to improve on a plot that consists simply of 5 young adults going to a cabin and (all but one) getting chopped up in graphic detail. For that reason, I thought this movie could have been better. But that is just my opinion. One thing I do know though is that this movie isn't for the squeamish or the faint-of-heart. But it is sure to satisfy a certain niche who loves this type of film. And that's perfectly fine.