I try to applaud low budget film making as it's not easy to get a movie off the ground, hence I decided to give this movie a shot. But low budget doesn't mean it has to defy logic and lack any, even half, decently written characters.
Fo starters I am a big fan of old horrors that used light and shadow to build up tension and dread in every scene (the original Cat People being a great example of this) But this was made in 2014 not 1942, and this is in colour. The low lighting in the opening, woodland scene, might create great shadows but it looks totally unrealistic and distracting in a modern colour film.
Then there's the killer! He kills everyone with either a large knife, machete or axe. Thats it. He's a slasher, nothing fancy about him. So why oh why, when he has the girl with the crazy painted eyebrows tied down, does he look at some of his tools like he's decided with which one to make the first incision. He's a slasher not one of life's more sophisticated killers. But, before he does this, he toys with her with a pair of shears then just cuts open her shirt. That's it. He puts the shears down, looks at a few tools then stabs her like he does every other victim. The guy is a serial killer equivalent of a simpleton. He would no more think about what knife to use as he would what finger to use to scratch his bum.
The guy with the gun baffled all logic as well. He has a shot gun, he's holding the door closed preventing the killer from getting in. So what does he do? He gives the gun to a girl and tells her to run while he holds the door. WHAT THE HELL!!! Just let the killer in and shoot him! This level of stupidity may have been excusable in the 70s and 80s but not now. The audience has moved on.
Then there's the ending! A girl escapes and runs into a guy driving a van. We see them drive off across the highlands of Scotland (not a tree in sight) In the next scene its dark, the driver claims he has taken a wrong turning, and they are back in the woods?! How the hell this has happened I don't know as its not exactly teeming with roads in the Scottish Highlands. Follow a road long enough and you'll come to a village. This is Scotland not the back woods of America. But guess what, they just happened to end up back where the killer is!! Next (and this is the best part) she runs away and ends up...... Wait for it....... In a scrap yard!!!!! How the Flip did that happen. One minute its the bare but beautiful Scotish Highlands, then its woodland but now (all of a sudden) she's surrounded by scrap cars! Now I know that in movies they often play with geography in order keep the movie flowing (how often have we seen car chases move from one street to another that we know is actually miles from the first) but we can forgive this in the narrative and locale of the film. But moving from Barren hills and occasional woodland to the middle of a scrap yard is just plain dumb. As I have said before, this is Scotland NOT America.
Unfortunately, I think the makers of this mess thought it was.
Fo starters I am a big fan of old horrors that used light and shadow to build up tension and dread in every scene (the original Cat People being a great example of this) But this was made in 2014 not 1942, and this is in colour. The low lighting in the opening, woodland scene, might create great shadows but it looks totally unrealistic and distracting in a modern colour film.
Then there's the killer! He kills everyone with either a large knife, machete or axe. Thats it. He's a slasher, nothing fancy about him. So why oh why, when he has the girl with the crazy painted eyebrows tied down, does he look at some of his tools like he's decided with which one to make the first incision. He's a slasher not one of life's more sophisticated killers. But, before he does this, he toys with her with a pair of shears then just cuts open her shirt. That's it. He puts the shears down, looks at a few tools then stabs her like he does every other victim. The guy is a serial killer equivalent of a simpleton. He would no more think about what knife to use as he would what finger to use to scratch his bum.
The guy with the gun baffled all logic as well. He has a shot gun, he's holding the door closed preventing the killer from getting in. So what does he do? He gives the gun to a girl and tells her to run while he holds the door. WHAT THE HELL!!! Just let the killer in and shoot him! This level of stupidity may have been excusable in the 70s and 80s but not now. The audience has moved on.
Then there's the ending! A girl escapes and runs into a guy driving a van. We see them drive off across the highlands of Scotland (not a tree in sight) In the next scene its dark, the driver claims he has taken a wrong turning, and they are back in the woods?! How the hell this has happened I don't know as its not exactly teeming with roads in the Scottish Highlands. Follow a road long enough and you'll come to a village. This is Scotland not the back woods of America. But guess what, they just happened to end up back where the killer is!! Next (and this is the best part) she runs away and ends up...... Wait for it....... In a scrap yard!!!!! How the Flip did that happen. One minute its the bare but beautiful Scotish Highlands, then its woodland but now (all of a sudden) she's surrounded by scrap cars! Now I know that in movies they often play with geography in order keep the movie flowing (how often have we seen car chases move from one street to another that we know is actually miles from the first) but we can forgive this in the narrative and locale of the film. But moving from Barren hills and occasional woodland to the middle of a scrap yard is just plain dumb. As I have said before, this is Scotland NOT America.
Unfortunately, I think the makers of this mess thought it was.