They tried hard on this one, so I appreciate the effort
The good: Royce Hobson as The Drifter- that guy has a promising future, he's really quite good as a creepy, grinning, likable villain
Rob Barger as the absurdly named Detective Smith Wesson, I was into his work in this
The setting, nice town and they had some beautiful spots for filming
The opening scene with the girl was very effective, probably the best scene in the whole flick
The story, or at least the basic framework of it, including the hint of it all continuing in another town
I liked all the boob shots of the bar tender, though some action shots of the hot, young ladies would have helped
The bad:
Everything else, really.
Matthew Ewald as Jesco was overacting in the extreme. He was explosively chewing the scenery whenever he was on screen. I looked at his IMDb, and I can see that he's been in tons of stuff, including well known feature films, and he's even worked with Clint Eastwood, amazingly. I say it's amazing because it doesn't show in his work in this movie.
The pacing was so wrong.
There were scenes dragged on far too long, with other scenes way too short. The introductory scene with the detective and the reporter seemed fairly vital, but then it went on and on and on....
Basically next to nothing in terms of on screen kills
There was the scene with the tramp peeing on the tree, and then the very next time you see her, she's dead, being carried by the faceless axeman. No suspense or lead in to the killing, no reaction shot from the girl as she's being attacked. I don't get it. The money shot in horror is when you see the reaction of the victim, why was that not included?
The murder suicide in the car.... couldn't that have had some lead in? A "what the F--?" moment from the girl in the driver's seat seeing her friend slash her own wrists right before stabbing her in the neck would have been GOLD.
I fully understand the budgetary constraints, and the effort on screen is obvious. It's super evident how hard the crew must have worked on this, but I feel like a stronger hand from the director, and probably a finer hand from the editor, could have really helped them out. I know this is a product of sweat and it shows in the positives.
The good: Royce Hobson as The Drifter- that guy has a promising future, he's really quite good as a creepy, grinning, likable villain
Rob Barger as the absurdly named Detective Smith Wesson, I was into his work in this
The setting, nice town and they had some beautiful spots for filming
The opening scene with the girl was very effective, probably the best scene in the whole flick
The story, or at least the basic framework of it, including the hint of it all continuing in another town
I liked all the boob shots of the bar tender, though some action shots of the hot, young ladies would have helped
The bad:
Everything else, really.
Matthew Ewald as Jesco was overacting in the extreme. He was explosively chewing the scenery whenever he was on screen. I looked at his IMDb, and I can see that he's been in tons of stuff, including well known feature films, and he's even worked with Clint Eastwood, amazingly. I say it's amazing because it doesn't show in his work in this movie.
The pacing was so wrong.
There were scenes dragged on far too long, with other scenes way too short. The introductory scene with the detective and the reporter seemed fairly vital, but then it went on and on and on....
Basically next to nothing in terms of on screen kills
There was the scene with the tramp peeing on the tree, and then the very next time you see her, she's dead, being carried by the faceless axeman. No suspense or lead in to the killing, no reaction shot from the girl as she's being attacked. I don't get it. The money shot in horror is when you see the reaction of the victim, why was that not included?
The murder suicide in the car.... couldn't that have had some lead in? A "what the F--?" moment from the girl in the driver's seat seeing her friend slash her own wrists right before stabbing her in the neck would have been GOLD.
I fully understand the budgetary constraints, and the effort on screen is obvious. It's super evident how hard the crew must have worked on this, but I feel like a stronger hand from the director, and probably a finer hand from the editor, could have really helped them out. I know this is a product of sweat and it shows in the positives.
