In case you need a content warning, this is definitely not a film to watch with your kids. It lets you know that in the opening sequence, but it may need stating if you are watching on a whim.
I'm from St Louis where this was produced, so there's an added layer to my experience with the film. I enjoyed seeing various locations that I've visited, and actors that I'm familiar with from other projects. I'm not sure how much that biases me with the performances or production design, but I thought the scenery was one of the stars in this pic.
There are certain things that you expect with a micro-budget that you have to be quick to forgive if you want to give a film a fighting chance, but this one succeeds where others fail. Set-ups are paid off, characters behave as they should, structurally, everything operates like the grind house/exploitation films it's emulating. It may seem like a low bar if you aren't familiar with micro-budget films, but even if you aren't there's not a lot of confounding or frustrating writing elements here to dissuade you from completing the movie.
The production doesn't emulate that grindhouse style too often though. It looks very slick with impressive cinematography and a sharp, clean look. There are a few very stylish film transitions including a very well orchestrated match/smash cut that I was impressed by. There are also moments where the lighting looks much closer to the more artistic Italian 70's films than their grungy American counterpart. There's a lot of "troma-esque" humor in here too with over the top violence and sometimes laughable reactions to being horribly mutilated. I had a good chuckle at a decapitation where the corpse continued standing for just a little too long.
This mix of camp and style makes it it's own unique film, but sometimes betrays what would otherwise be more forgivable with a rougher edged aesthetic. Some dialogue scenes break the 180 degree rule, and there's a scene between our lead and a child that stays fixed in a two shot where the pace and performance could have been enhanced with some editing. There's some crude dialogue with hammy performances, that would probably land a little better with tighter editing, but instead, we have longer takes to give the cinematography a chance to breath, but it's at the detriment of even the schlockiest of performance. These are relatively minor gripes in the grand scheme of things. I suppose the inverse could be true for other viewers. All of the promotional material seems to say it's a straight grindhouse throwback, but there's enough originality to appeal to some people who might not choose that type of film regularly.
It's a very solid film that doesn't take itself too seriously. If you are part of the St. Louis scene, it's almost essential viewing.
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