It’s good taste time once again, as we follow the unfortunate Amber (Grace Johnston) as she falls into the clutches of your usual gang of inbred hillbillies. These psychos have kidnapped a number of women. They then force them to fight to the death, with the idea that the winner will get to carry on the clan’s bloodline. Charming.
Lord knows the backwoods horror film is not, nor should it be expected to be, a bastion of quiet restraint, but we’ve got a pretty unequivocally misogynist premise here, and the execution does little to mitigate it, despite Johnston’s best efforts. The filmmaking is pedestrian, though not incompetent, but this is a cynical, exploitive work that is also derivative and dull.
Audio
No 5.1 here, only a 2.0 that, to its credit, is crisp and clear. Distortion isn’t a problem. But though there is very little actively wrong with the audio, there is little that is actively right, too, in that the surround elements are minimal, and the score sounds a bit flat. As pedestrian, then, as the movie it accompanies, getting the job done, but only just.
Video
On the debit side, there are some peculiar shots with flickering, strobing colours, particularly reds. There is also some minor grain. But generally, the colours are very fine, as are the blacks, contrasts and flesh tones. The image is also nicely sharp. We may not quite be in silk purse and sow’s ear territory, but we’re getting close.
Special Features
Other than some trailers (including the feature’s), the only extra is a commentary by director Stephen Durham, lead nutjob Jason Padgett, co-producer Zoran Jacimovic and exec-producer Rickie Castaneda. They have a fine old time, but could do a lot more to convince us that what they did was worthwhile. Come on, people, all you can tell us about the incest scene is how long it took to shoot? What about justifying it?
Closing Thoughts
Feh. Professionally packaged feh, but feh all the same.
