The Legend of Bloody Jack (2007 Video) User Reviews

"I'm getting tired of this sh*t." Yeah mate, by the time I'd seen this I knew how you felt.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 3 November 2007]

The Legend of Bloody Jack is set in the Alaskan wilderness & starts as a relative of some murderous deceased occultist Lumberjack reads incantations (The Evil Dead (1982) style) from an ancient spell book in an attempt to resurrect him, he succeeds & not being a big believer in family unity the Lumberjack dude kills his relative. Two days later & Ray (Travis Quentin Young) along with his sister Dawn (Erica Hoag), her boyfriend Nick (Craig Bonacorsi) & four of their friends pull up outside a cosy log cabin (The Evil Dead style...) with a view to a relaxing weekend in the wilderness. Unfortuntaely the killer Lumberjack dude show's up with his axe & starts to slaughter the friends one-by-one...

Edited, written, executive produced & directed by Todd Portugal this is a pretty rotten modern slasher flick the likes of which are killing the horror genre for me, I'm just not a big fan of ultra low budget horror films with the production values of a holiday video. The script is absolutely terrible in every way for 80 minutes, it has every bad slasher cliché, the character's are awful, the dialogue is terrible & it's hard to care about anyone or anything in this pretty worthless excuse for a teen slasher film. The teens are even more annoying & stupid than usual, the script is more moronic, predictable & flawed than usual & the killer Lumberjack dude is just lame. Then there's the final 10 minutes or so which, if you make it that far & believe it's tough going, produces one of the worst twist ending in slasher film history which as far as I'm concerned pokes fun at us the paying audience who has just had to sit through 90 minutes worth of crap. I will now spoil the ending so anyone who doesn't want to know it stop reading now. Basically just before the end of the film it cuts back to Ray telling a story & it turns out he was telling the story of what we had just seen & Nick & Dawn & everyone else berates him for telling such a bad story (I felt their pain) & then proceed to pick holes in it & laugh at it. From saying why did they stand around & argue, why didn't they pick the axe up & such things, I felt like this was poking fun at the audience as those were the sorts of things I was asking myself while watching this crap & to have it shoved down my throat & made perfectly clear that the makers knew the script was crap & could see all the holes in it & went for a twist ending which unashamedly rubbishes the preceding 80 minutes (which we have just had to sit through remember) is just a little grating. Then to add insult to injury the Lumberjack dude turns up & kills everyone within two minutes, why didn't he do that to start with? It would have saved everyone a lot of time.

Director Portugal turns in a real mess, this has the worst continuity between night & day in a film I have ever seen. The whole film is meant to set at night & I suspect the makers tried to use the day for night process but it didn't work & most of it looks like it is set during the day. For example, look at when Lisa is trapped in the bathroom & she climbs out of the window. It is clearly pitch black outside when we are looking out from inside the bathroom but when she falls to the ground & the films cuts to an exterior shot it's bright daylight. Then there's the fact Ranger Vince says we can't get a search party out here until 'the morning' indicating it was supposed to be night, then several minutes later when he walks outside & it looks like it's the middle of the day he is actually carrying around a torch which is clearly on & he is clearly pointing it in the directions where he is looking like it's night. Anytime there is a scene set in the cabin look at the windows, it's pitch black outside & when the Ranger walks in through the door to start with is also another clear example. The continuity in this film is simply the worst I have ever seen. There isn't much gore, there are a few scenes of an axe going into people bodies but nothing memorable. It's not scary, there's no tension or atmosphere & the appalling day & night continuity is just so distracting because it's so obvious.

Technically the film is rock bottom, again the continuity between night & day has to been seen to be believed how bad it is. The special effects are poor & they couldn't even afford to show a car blowing up even though it's pretty vital to the plot. This has amateur hour written all over it from start to finish. The acting is absolutely brilliant & everyone involved should get an Oscar, nah only joking, not really they were utterly awful & even the girls who got their breasts out weren't very good looking.

The Legend of Bloody Jack is just an awful teen slasher flick, it looks like it was shot on a camcorder without the use of a tripod or steadycam, it has awful effects, is boring & has a twist ending which is either the most insulting in horror film history or I've got it totally wrong & it's the most clever. Not recommended, watch a decent slasher from the 70's or 80's to remind you how they should be done.

It is what it is

[wholcomb-1 · 3/10 · 12 March 2007]

I had no expectations other than to be entertained for 90 minutes, and that is exactly what I was.

Of course it is campy, of course some of the dialog wasn't perfect, of course the "special effects" were a bit hokey. That is exactly why I enjoyed the movie so much. It is a perfect fit for this genre of a 70's Horror classic.

The talent needs to start some where, that goes for the actors and the crew, and what better piece of material to sharpen your skills on than this.

I for one look forward to another film from these producers and directors.

A Complete waste of time

[mr_iceman · 2/10 · 28 March 2007]

Guys who-ever even THINKS about watching this movie has already got some disturbance going through their heads.. This movie has NOTHING to do with Jack the Ripper (incase you thought) its another B, i mean E-Grade movie comprised of a bunch of horny teens in certain sex scenes being watched just before they get their spleens splattered on a nearby tree. Its not scary, funny or amusing. If you really feel like gory stuff with no plot, then watch Cabin Fever, at least the director did not fall asleep midway through directing this crap.only watch this if you absolutely have nothing to do in life & the only thing on TV is Oprah Winfrey crying on the TV set.

The "Plan 9" of modern slashers

[ODDBear · 1/10 · 23 August 2010]

Inept. Inept. Inept. Inept.

Geez - this is what you get when you decide to take a chance on a direct to DVD slasher! The cover looks cool - the comparison to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" obviously comes from someone associated with the film 'cuz no one in their right mind would compare those two - and the story doesn't sound too bad (for a slasher). But do not be fooled (like ME!) - this is total and utter CRAP.

It's hard to take a few things out and point to their ineptitude but here's a quick rundown; Acting is bad - effects are bad - dialogue is beyond belief and overall script is pure toilet paper - things like atmosphere and suspense are not present.

Personal faves; The movie is supposed to take place in Alaska where for some reason the sun never sets. Well OK, so we'll have a daylight slasher - at least that's new. Wrong! Interior scenes always show total darkness when looking at the windows yet when the folks go outside it's always bright. But the biggest laugh comes when a state official uses a torch to see where he's going in complete daylight. Also an encounter with a woman driver near the end has to be seen to be believed.

Maybe the film is best enjoyed when you know what you're getting into. Don't expect anything remotely good and you might have a few laughs Ed Wood "Plan 9" style. I've seen some bad slashers but I can't think of one that tops this turd. Perhaps the biggest laugh comes when watching the supplements on the DVD when the crew responsible for the flick praise it like it's a modern masterpiece of slasher cinema. How clueless can they get?

awful, so bad i felt i should warn others to avoid at all costs!!

[steph-307 · 1/10 · 13 March 2007]

Where to start, this movie started badly and ended badly! It consists of extremely poor acting and unrealistic effects that had me cringing in my seat, seriously, my cat could have acted better than this lot.

Some of it was actually laughable because it was so unbelievable, i would of rated this lower but they haven't got anything else! So, heed my warning and unless your so bored your close to suicide and would like a good reason to continue with your suicide mission, don't bother with this one. I'm still in shock that this could actually be released to the public, this should be a crime and all involved should be arrested. I gather you've got the gist by now so i'll leave it up to you to decide.

Diabolical

[curt_seavers · 1/10 · 2 November 2007]

Starring an unknown cast which seem likely to remain that way, this "film" is yet another cheap slasher flick which amazes me how this was released. I have no problem with horrors and slasher flicks in particular, in fact they are my favourites. But when they are done THIS BAD, it really does take the monkey and its no wonder the genre has such a hard time. The story is as clichéd and without imagination as possible with a bunch of people in a cabin out in the woods being slashed and hacked up by this zombie/ghost guy. Its not the story that sucks the most, its the atrocious acting and dialouge, home made directing quality and an awful soundtrack. Not to mention laughable effects and some incredibly lazy film making - these morons are outside in clear daylight yet we are meant to believe it's night?? What the hell was the director thinking with this move? What, he had only one day to film all this in? He was scared of the dark? ( Is hilarious seeing a cop walking around in pure daylight with a torch acting as if its pitch black, though)

I guess the positive side for the actors is they look like people who work in the local supermarket so at least they could possibly escape from this film without ever being noticed. Im sure one of the "teens" plays bingo down the local pub - but she's 40-45.

Anyway, good for a laugh but just another waste of film and time.

The operative word is "moron"

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 1/10 · 27 February 2007]

Moron and his moron girlfriend conduct some ritual to resurrect the dead, in attempt to prove that the dead can not be brought back to life. Not surprisingly, they do resurrect a dead soul who commences chopping them up with an axe, and the next day some college-aged people are telling the story around a campfire. The guy with the axe turns up and starts hacking up the idiots telling the story. The group calls the cops, the cop sees blood splattered all over and thinks it's a mountain lion(!) and soon after is axed by some deformed killer who may or may not be a ghost.

Moronic little splatter movie which was filmed in broad daylight but where several characters are carrying flashlights and talking as though it were the middle of the night, and wanting to send up a signal flare to attract attention. One guy has a gun in one hand and bullets in the other but doesn't bother to load it, then after he finally loads it, he has several opportunities to shoot the killer but doesn't bother to, because that would end the movie too early. Then he throws the gun away! Also detrimental is characters who show no emotion and don't look the least bit concerned after their friends are chopped into pieces, and lousy effects (the human heart looks like a piece of chicken meat, the car blown up at the end clearly was a model car) and awful dialogue and some really ugly female nudity doesn't help. And in the end it tries to get away with its incoherence by saying that it was all the invention of the same college aged people telling campfire stories at the start of this movie.

Then the killer turns up for real in the last scene hacks them into pieces. Again.

Only good for some unintended laughs.

Not what I was hoping.

[wtdeaconjones15 · 1/10 · 7 July 2010]

When I picked up the DVD case for this movie and read the plot, I found it to be interesting. When I watched it though I was severely disappointed. The scenes were to poorly done. The actors and actresses looked more like they were in their freshman year of film school. The camera angles were poorly decided and shot with a somewhat clueless demeanor.The theme of the movie,though strong, was weakly projected to the public. The gore scenes were more that of a G rated atmosphere. When people watch horror movies,they want to be scared out of their pants. This movie more delivers on laughing people out of their pants than anything else.

Oy...

[ryan-851-333577 · 1/10 · 4 January 2013]

Usually threads posted in the forums are pretty harsh but in the case of "The Legend of Bloody Jack", they are richly deserved.

The acting is horrible, the "special effects" aren't very special (it looks like they pillaged a Halloween party supply store), the dialog is laughable, and the plot is non-existent.

Bloody Jack, or as the credits list him, Lumberjack is the most non-threatening and ineffectual slasher I have ever seen. He basically looks like a regular guy who went into Kmart to buy flannels, Dickie's work pants and a pair of CAT boots. On his way out, he remembered that he needed a hat and a face-warmer so he picked those up too. The ax was an impulse buy at checkout. He's just a regular guy that went crazy after too many lonely Alaska winters. All that seems legit. Oh...except that the Netflix description of this movie says "Bloody Jack" is 400 yrs old.

Hell, the IMDb description says "The legend of Jack The Ripper comes to real when one of his descendants revive him." Really?? When did this happen??? Did I see a censored version of this movie that left the gore and nudity in but edited out any and all major plot points? I will give this movie one plus; the girls in it are relatively attractive and they all bare their relatively nice breasts. But that's it. That is it! No more pluses.

Don't even get me started on the ending...

Follow the majority of the reviews and do not waste your time with this. If you wanna see relatively nice breasts, you can easily find them faster and easier on the internet.

Just AWFUL!!

[elizabethlewisma · 1/10 · 22 August 2009]

Oh my, where to start... this movie was just awful. The writing was bad, acting was bad, special effects were bad. I think the only good thing about this movie is that it made me laugh! I was in the mood for a scary movie but certainly didn't get that! I thought it would be decent enough since i'm not picky. i've watched several bad horror movies. In fact, it is my goal to see all horror movies, not matter how awful they may be. At one point in the movie i made a comment about the "corn syrup blood" and in the special features they actually admit that it was Karo syrup (brand name corn syrup...) The movie had all the necessary things for a horror movie (blood, nudity, crazy killer, stupid moves) but it was just completely lacking anything to really make it good. The writer should either take some classes or just give up!

What you'd expect.

[visionary · 10/10 · 7 March 2007]

Pretty much what you'd expect for this type of film. It delivers the basics and is actually better than most in this class of low budget horror. The story centers around the tale of a psychotic lumberjack that terrorizes the woods. Our band of unsuspecting youths enters his domain and are summarily dispatched. It doesn't break a lot of new ground, but does serve up the touchstones for this genre of film. There's nudity, gore, jump out of your seat scares (at least one that made me jump out my seat). The acting is pretty good, by a group of unknowns, but you expect to see some of them in future movies. All in all it's a worthy distraction.

Fun little horror movie

[Filtsme · 7/10 · 13 March 2007]

Considering this movie has all new talent, a new writer and a new director, it's not bad. I think it's a good "dark stormy night at the cabin after a few drinks" kind of movie. It's got everything needed to make a horror movie, it has a few scenes that will make you jump, and a few scenes that may make you laugh (may not have been their intention), and some nudity, all mixed in with a good theme. I know I'll be thinking twice about taking a leak out in the deep woods. It's a fun to watch horror flick! We dressed as lumberjacks and had a great time with it... It maybe the next cult classic, be the first one to get all the lines down, with all your own comebacks... Enjoyed it for what it is!

A New HORROR ICON is chopping his way to TOP !!!

[guestar57 · 5/10 · 14 March 2007]

LEGEND OF BLOODY JACK (theasylum.cc) Written & Directed by Todd Portugal Featuring Matt Nelson as the Lumberjack. The director of photography was very kind to the making of this film,Awesome camera work. The Gist: These couples are at a cross roads, Then have a reality check with death. Rules: Don't go out of the house, AND if you do stay out the the woods. The character of Forest Ranger was interesting and had a uncanny resemblance to Dick Miller(favorite character actor of Joe Dante and Roger Corman). There were some genuinely suspenseful scenes and whole piece seems very fresh with a new horror icon to beware. The stunt co-ordinator, I found out in extras, Was also the lumberjack, Great planning for stunt success. Okay to sum up,The Ending was great, Then became Not great just before end credits-Ouch.

Pure Crap

[crayonbillsbhb · 1/10 · 18 March 2010]

I really wish i could give this a negative vote, because i think i just wasted 83 minutes of my life watching the worst horror movie ever put to film. the acting was just god awful, i mean REALLLYYYY bad, the dialog was worse, the script sounded like it was written by.... i can't think of anything horrible enough to say. And the day "outside" and the night "inside" shots make you think the events took over several days. Terribly acted, directed, written, etc etc. all the way down to the gofer how gets lunch for everyone. STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE AT ALL COSTS. If my only saving grace to stay out of hell is by doing one good deed, it is to tell the world to not watch this crap. This movie is the exact reason why horror movies are never taken seriously.

So bad it hurts!

[Alexander-Ross · 1/10 · 17 November 2013]

This is not even a movie: in fact it is not even Cinema! It is just a badly filmed, poorly staged, even more poorly produced, and "acted" ugly piece of pure, shabby boredom, at it's finest and saddest representation! No, I don't want to be mean! But enough is enough! And I must warn others! I go to Film Festivals, and, see plenty of films better, way more deserving (under any single perspective) than this hard to digest, atrocity, but, believe it or not, some of those never come out! You'd be surprised, not even the real promising, ground breaking ones, at times! However, quite punctually, crappy, amateur, demented stuff, obviously made without any caring, nor the even thinnest consideration for an audience, such as this shameful advertisement against B Genre movies (that is probably its only regrettable "achievement": keeping people away from the Genre, that is!!) does get a decent DVD run! I can only tell you that I am famous to watch pretty much everything, even the unwatchable, and, that I always find ways to enjoy cult films ! But, this marooning experience into a shameful lack of any entertaining elements, was way too dreadful and insulting, even for me! I honestly just couldn't finish it!! I gave it 33 of the most painful, miserable minutes ever spent, then I got angered, realizing I was just forcing myself to watch... or better, to witness, perhaps, some of the lowest grade attempts into badly trying, without ever succeeding, to pass an assemblage of utmost uninteresting, muddled material, that felt as if it were the lamest possible result, coming out by writing a couple of lurid vignettes, while, staging them afterward, as if you had to punk some nasty old uncle, and, all together vaguely resembling some of the worst acted nightmare of a play, performed at the Auburn, Alabama's public High School, but in one of those really jinxed years, when the students were so inept to result almost like a frantic bunch of idiots, trying to get the hell away of their misery! When I finally turned it off, I had to chill, a few moments, and then spent the night, just trying hard to forget the whole damn experience! Brutalizing! And, again.. not the plot ( and what plot, anyway?), brutalizing I would call the feeling I have got once more when watching such stupidity , a feeling someone is most likely to get inevitably, when clearly understanding, that he's been just finely ripped off of his money! Then, of course, I saw that the Asylum was involved: hey! Mea Culpa! Should have known better...

Legend of the bad movie

[ksj870 · 1/10 · 23 August 2013]

*Major Spoilers Ahead!* Amateur-level low-budget horror movie about a resurrected axe-murderer who terrorizes young people in the Alaskan wilderness. The whole movie is a massive red herring...in the end, after the killer has apparently been vanquished, it's revealed that the entire story to that point has been one long campfire tale told by one of the vacationers. As they are all laughing about the story and having a good time with it, the axe murderer attacks and unceremoniously slaughters all of them in a few seconds. The end. Roll credits. How clever. Why am I spelling it all out for you like this? To keep you from wasting an hour and a half of your time on this decoy. Save yourself the trouble and watch a real movie instead.

So hopelessly inept and not even in a funny way

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 11 November 2013]

If there were any emotions gotten out of The Legend of Bloody Jack it was of jaw-dropping shock and frustration, and I still have the bruise on my forehead from taking it out on my bedroom wall. The Legend of Bloody Jack is one of those movies that is total ineptitude in every single way possible, and the bad news is that it is not even funny, everything is just too amateurish and not-even-trying like that getting through it was a struggle. If there was a list for the worst-looking movies of the last 15 years, The Legend of Bloody Jack would be on there and quite high up, the whole movie looks very frenzied with dim lighting, simplistic settings and lousy doesn't describe the badness of the special effects enough. The soundtrack is repetitive, awkwardly mixed and quite stock, there is no atmosphere at all to it and sometimes it sounds like it was composed with another movie in mind. The script is childish, cheesy and stilted and not just slightly but to alarming degrees, one of the worst in recent memory, and it seems as though the actors were really struggling to get any value out of it. Because the acting is just as bad, perhaps even worse, no believability, no commitment, no spark, much of it is annoying attempts of smart-ass talk, mumbled line delivery and the looks of "I want to go home". The characters are just moronic in what they say, act and do and not in an endearing way at all, they are just stereotypical and irritating. The killer exudes little menace and the movie makes an even bigger mistake of not telling us anything about him. The slasher elements are gory but in a very cheap way and have no tension to them, instead there is a sense of been-there-done-that and real indifference. The story is completely lifeless and predictable, and the horror, suspense, thriller and fun elements are literally non-existent here as a result complete with an all-too-easy ending. All in all, hopelessly inept and in a way that is more frustrating than it is funny. 0/10 Bethany Cox

The legend of a bloody train-wreck

[movieman_kev · 1/10 · 10 May 2013]

In the Northern region of Alaska, two clowns resurrect Jack,a deceased serial killer, via his heart and incantation. He kills the guy. One would hope that the film was over as it faded to black, but sadly this. Is just a prologue story told by another group of nitwits who're vacationing in the woods. And so the true horror begins. By horror, I mean a soul- crushingly terribly inept movie that will make your brain liquefy and melt out of your ears. There's almost nothing going for this inane, clichéd, red-headed stepchild of a film. And somehow despite all the main female leads going topless, It still ranks amongst the worst films that I've seen streaming on Netflix and that's saying a lot.

WE HAVE A BETTER CHANCE IF WE SPLIT UP

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 16 June 2019]

Bloody Jack was a lumber jack who practiced black magic and sacrificed humans so his spirit could be immortal. In Northern Alaska a relative of his uses his journal for an incantation to revive Jack. Not to give away too much, but it worked as three young couples and Ray go to a cabin the woods nearby.

The film was okay for a slasher and later we find out it was actually spoofing slashers, which it didn't do too well. Acting was on par for an Asylum horror film. Not the worst slasher film out there.

Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Erica Hoag, Jessica Szaerto, Alecia Klein)

Traditional slasher in the forest with too much padding

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 24 March 2024]

Seven youths go to a cabin-in-the-woods to have a good time, but a mysterious man with an axe puts the kibosh on their plans.

"The Legend of Bloody Jack" (2007) is a slasher in the tradition of "The Prey" and "The Final Terror," both released 24 years earlier. While not quite on the level of "The Final Terror" (which isn't exactly great), it's about on par with "The Prey." It's thankfully superior to the lousy "Don't Go in the Woods," but not as effective as "Berserker."

The reason I mention those specific flicks is because this is cut from the same cloth. Unlike "Don't Go in the Woods," the characters are fleshed-out a little, although not as well as in "Edge of the Axe." The dramatic scenes are superior to those in the obscure "The Ridge" (2005), but the thrills in the second half are nowhere near as compelling.

On the feminine front, ScarJo-lookalike Erica Curtis stands out as the redhead protagonist Dawn. Alicia Klein is worth a mention as insecure Shelly. Meanwhile there's a top nudity sequence involving blonde Jessica Szab, who plays Lisa (just a heads up).

Regrettably, there's too much padding. For instance, the intro unnecessarily drags on too long. The flick would've worked better at about 73 minutes. As it is, it runs 1 hour, 28 minutes. In other words, fifteen tedious minutes needed shaved off. Still, if you're an aficionado of cabin-in-the-woods horror, it's proficient enough to check out.

It was shot in the hills northeast or north of Los Angeles (Los Padres National Forest, Pine Mountain Club and Angeles National Forest).

GRADE: C.

What we were looking for

[hottdogg1974 · 8/10 · 12 March 2007]

The Legend of Bloody Jack was exactly what we were looking for! A weekend midnight movie to have a party with. Don't get me wrong this was not a Hollywood big budget horror movie starring one of the handful of horror actors we always see in these movies. This is akin to the drive in movies I went to see when I was a kid, the sorority slasher films or the walls are bleeding films...I loved those movies, they were the perfect combination of scares, a psycho killer, blood, women and not taking themselves so seriously that they become pretentious. I, and I believe others, like just being entertained and Legend comes through. There were a couple of plot points that seemed to not pay off, like the legend didn't really come across or the ending that seems like an after thought, but I thought the acting was better that most of the bottom shelf horror movies and there is a decapitation that we must have looked at ten times to see how they did it...it was great! I will definitely check out more movies from this company. If you are looking for a fun movie, a great party movie, check it out.

What you would expect

[cjc17 · 7/10 · 7 May 2007]

Overall this movie is not that great, but it delivers what you would expect from a b grade horror movie; blood, guts and nudity. It suffers from poor production choices (actors pretending it is night when it daylight) and cheesy dialog. The story line is typical of a horror movie but the script makes some wrong turns. Not all of the acting is bad, some of it is even pretty good given the material they had to work with. The actors were not given a chance at character development because of the lack of story. It's not their fault that the movie is bad. The writers should have focused more on the brother sister relationship (like House of Wax) and those two actors. It felt like their relationship could have been explored more. Like I said, with this movie you get what you would expect, an OK story, decent acting and lots of blood.

Better than it should be, but still flawed at times

[slayrrr666 · 8/10 · 21 May 2010]

"The Legend of Bloody Jack" is an incredibly entertaining if mildly flawed slasher.

**SPOILERS**

Going on a camping trip, friends Ray, (Travis Quentin Young) George, (Jon Kowalski) Dawn, (Erica Hoag) Tom, (Josh Evans) Shelly, (Alicia Klein) Nick, (Craig Bonacorsi) and Lisa, (Jessica Szabo) head out into the woods in order to celebrate all of their anniversaries as well as carry on about where they're going. As they stay together longer and begin to see that there's a whole series of problems between the couples that is about to ruin their friendships. While they are going on, they start to realize that something is off about the trip, and noticing that several of them have gone missing, it becomes apparent that a strange serial killer is out in the woods hunting and killing them one-by-one, forcing them to have to work together to get out of the woods alive before they're completely killed off.

The Good News: There was a lot of good stuff in this one. One of the biggest pluses is the fact that this one employs a large amount of stalking scenes that the killer has, making for a very well-paced film in the middle segments and towards the end, as it continuously moves forward and has a lot going on in it. The opening in the woods, where the killer is resurrected, is one of the best examples, due to the ritual employed, as well as the manner of the killer who smartly has one of the creepiest character traits ever since he uses a rock to sharpen his blade while off-screen with the screeching strike being the only sound of his advancement, and it's a fantastic tool. It's done often to build suspense, and is a great idea on its own, so it works twice as effectively. Other big forest-set stalking scenes include a great one where he stalks after a witness to a murder, coming close on several occasions and allowing for some nice chasing to occur through the surroundings, the stalking of a forest ranger after the discovery of a previous victim's remains strewn about, and the superb scene where, upon venturing into the line of fire to retrieve a gun, have to navigate the area carefully due to the killer's presence there. These are all absolutely great stalking scenes that are really much better than expected and make it all that much more enjoyable. When it gets into the action mix, it's just as good. From a great confrontation with a victim bound-and-tied up to a tree as well as one of the victims being caught in a bear-trap, complete with close-ups of the wound, manage to get really exciting with the mixture of action and suspense into the proceedings, and along with a great brawl near the end on and around a car, there's some big scenes in here to perk things up. Even better, though, is the main highlight sequence where he attacks them in the cabin, from a series of brawling and chasing through the bathroom into the bedroom, a tense searching through the room with a victim hiding under the bed, and then the big chase back outside that result in several deaths at once. The film's high body count means a lot of kills, and since most are quite gory, it's another big plus. From decapitations to a series of limbs hacked off, axes impaled in the back, stomach, chest and shoulders, plus several sharp impalings and the rather bloody bear-trap mentioned above, it has its fair share for the gorehounds. The last plus, which could also be said to be its biggest flaw, is the ending twist. Some might call it creative and genius, while others can say it's lazy and stupid, and depending on where you fall, both are right. It's a personal choice, not one based on the film's virtues, so the others are its good points.

The Bad News: There weren't a whole lot of problems here. One of the biggest ones is that the film gives absolutely nothing about the killer at all. Early on, there's mention of an individual that supposedly is raised through the incantations, but not is a name given, how he came about being cursed, or what his purpose is at all. Even the name is merely an assumption based on the film's title, and that's the most information we have on him beyond his behavior tactics and weapon-of-choice mentioned above. We basically know nothing, and beyond that, having a turtleneck come up to cover his mouth is the zenith of his identification-hiding, making him a completely clueless and entirely non-threatening villain, a major flaw in a slasher film. The film manages to get a little tedious in the beginning with all of the relationship woes that the couples are going through, which aren't all that interesting and manage to make it a chore to get into, another problem that such films shouldn't have. Another one is a sequence where a motorist stops and sarcastically implies that they're such is a joke, commenting on it in a jokey manner that completely neutralizes the entire situation from the get-go and doesn't generate anything at all. The last issue could be the big one, the finale. Some might like it, some might hate it, but regardless, it's still something to get over in this one, but since it's not a universal issue and rather a personal one, the other flaws here are the biggest ones.

The Final Verdict: While some may be up-in-arms over certain parts of this, it's still one of the better entries in the genre and is very watchable. Give this one a shot if you're into low-budget slashers or have an affinity for those that dare to be different, while those who are more traditional should heed caution.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and a mild Sex Scene

Confusing

[aaronsaltzer · 9/10 · 14 February 2018]

This movie was good except I didn't understand the ending. Near the end, it reveals that Ray was telling his friends and sister what will happen if they go camping. Where as before, he was about to tell them, but they cut him off and walk away.

Another movie where the title has no bearing on the film whatsoever.

[UltimaGabe · 28 July 2011]

Wow. Where to begin? This movie was terrible. Absolutely terrible. It's a shot-on-video disaster with nothing to make it worth watching. From a technical standpoint, it's a train wreck- every single outdoor scene is way, way too dark (to the point where I couldn't tell if it they were using a day-to-night filter to make it seem like it's nighttime or not). Did this film even have a lighting director? And on the topic of lighting, either the movie keeps jumping between daytime to nighttime to daytime again, or whoever set up the indoor scenes had no idea what they were doing.

From a story standpoint, what story? The movie begins with a guy trying to... uh... revive his ancestor? Or something? I don't know, he didn't do a very good job of explaining anything and then he gets killed, and he was the only character who had any idea what was going on. Then it turns out that's a story being told by someone else? The killer's never even given a name (simply called "Lumberjack" in the credits- who in the world got the idea this movie was about Jack the Ripper?) and he just kinda shows up and kills people. The characters are complete idiots- one noteworthy scene involves the hero (I can't think of what else to call him) shoot the bad guy, then look over his "dead" body (leaving the axe untouched) until the bad guy comes back to life, at which point he and his girlfriend run ten feet away, crouch down in the grass, and proceed to have a five-minute discussion about what to do. All this, after a scene where the killer heard a bullet clink in the guy's pocket from fifty feet away. And then, at the end of the movie, it turns out it's yet another story being told, involving the people the story was being told to? As if the storyteller told everyone, "Hey guys, here's a story about all of us getting killed, and by the way part of the story involves me seeing you two have sex. Back to all of us getting killed..." And one more thing- the box is about as misleading as it can get. The front of the DVD case shows a killer silhouetted against a dozen bodies hanging from trees, the back of the case has a picture of a cabin that is not in the movie (and the killer about to hack a girl who I'm pretty sure wasn't in the movie either), and there's two quotes on the box (who make the movie sound way better than it is) ATTRIBUTED TO NOBODY. That's right, they put quotes on their box and didn't even bother to make it sound like someone actually said them. And at least twice on the box it mentions a "true story" or "urband legend" or whatever- what story? What urban legend? There wasn't anything there to even be considered an urban legend at all. "Campfire Urban Legend, Bloody Jack, comes to life in this brutal telling of the true story behind one of America's most prolific serial killers." Uh, what? The killer in the movie is never called "Bloody Jack". True story? True stories usually have, you know, details. "One of America's most prolific serial killers"? How can someone be "prolific" if they're never identified a single time? This movie was a headache from beginning to end. I watched it at 1.5x speed and it still went by too slowly.