The Horde (2016 Video) User Reviews

Wrong Turn meets Commando......

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 29 May 2016]

.......And if that sounds like your cup of tea, it will come as no surprise that even though this film is entertaining, it has none of the scares of Wrong Turn, and barely any of the action of Commando.

John Crenshaw accompanies his girlfriend and her students on a weekend photography project deep into the woods.

What should be an educational and fun-filled weekend turns into the opposite as the group are besieged by a horde of hideously disfigured, mutated humans with an insatiable taste for blood.

As things go from bad to worse, Crenshaw becomes their only hope if they are going to get out alive........

If you are a fan of horror movies, particularly that of the 'Gorenography' sub-genre, you would instantly know that when it features Bill Moseley in the opening act as one of the nicest people in the whole film, you know that's not the last you will see of him.

And that's the fundamental element that is wrong with the film, it's not original enough to be anything other than passable horror fluff. Everything has been done before, from the opening scene featuring two victims, very Wrong Turn, to the stereotypical characterisation.

We have the incredibly ripped lead, who looks beyond uncomfortable in his own body, who you just know will lose his cool at least twice in the film.

Then we have the students.

We have your over lusted couple who sit in the back of the car kissing for the entire journey, you just know that they will go first and go quickly.

Then you have the token rich boy who is abhorrent and rude to everyone.....and you just know that his death scene will be the the most drawn out one of the film, and it will be the goriest part of the film.

The other two students are a little boring and have common sense, so obviously they may be safe come the end, and the teacher is the most cookie cutter of all the characters.

By the way, if you think that these are spoilers, you have never seen a stalk n' slash horror film before, because it follows the same formula that everyone of these films has done in the history of cinema, because film makers don't like change.

The family of killers are again your atypical selection of freaks and burly men with whom you may have seen in another film. And talking of Commando, Vernon Wells makes a special guest appearance as a face eating bad guy who has a wonderful scene with the spoilt rich boy.

But then for some reason, one of the family appears to be a tree, so any element of reality is just thrown out of the proverbial window.

Costas Mandylor pops up at the beginning and the third act as the big boss, because he was one of the main bad guys in Saw, and the makers must have thought 'I bet if we have him in a small role, there will be fans of Saw who will think that everything he's in will be horror gold'.

It's not a terrible film by any means, but you'll have that terrible sense of déjà Vu whilst getting through it.

One for gore hounds, and for people who like all of the plot explained in the final ten minutes.

Oh, and the great Don 'The Dragon' Wilson pops up in what must be the weirdest cameo that I have ever seen in my life.

In fact, it's worth watching just for his cameo.

A Rambo clone in the woods that likes to smack people in the face

[monkey_ross · 5/10 · 24 August 2016]

It appears to be the be first script that Paul Logan has written, which probably explains the excessive martial art fighting scenes involving himself and opportunities to take off his top! ha ha The horde was obviously made on a pretty small budget and considering this, I don't want to slam it too much. The movie as a whole is kind of weird mash up of Rambo, Universal Soldier and perhaps a pinch of Deliverance meets House of 1000 Corpses? As an intended horror, I don't think its particularly scary in any way but its got some good gore factor in there for you in that's your thing. The teacher to student talk about being a virgin was an obvious set up for a B movie unneeded gang rape which was pretty cringe worthy and I guess in place for the lack of frights to this movie. The story itself is pretty shaky and doesn't really develop past being in the woods and in danger. The direction of the stereotypical characters in scenes is not the best nor is the explanation for these weird people being in the woods doing what their doing in the first place. However, the whole point of this film is obviously to get to the kicking arse part of the movie where the Rambo type character of John Crenshaw gets to descend on the town, does his arse kicking and attempt to rescue his group. I would say that on a budget the SFX are actually pretty good surprisingly. It was worth a watch in short but it wont need a second viewing.

a bizarre masterpiece

[knepfler · 3/10 · 1 April 2017]

This move does the unimaginable: It magically teleports a man, a man who'd normally be named "guy you'd see dressed in all cameo doing karate moves in a forest with a bunch of his friends in a no budget movie" guy, it teleports him into a mediocre horror movie that is mostly made of filler shots. Every time our hero talks to anyone, it reminds of Tommy Wiseau's The Room with its awkwardness. Every action the guy performs to advance the story seems to plod along at a nearly infinitely slow pace because of the sheer mundanity of the tasks. Even the task of asking someone if they want a drink is enough to put you instantly to sleep. Strangely, when he's not in the shots, which is actually a pretty reasonable amount of time considering, the movie actually chugs along reasonably well. The other actors have some tinge of personality and range, and the camera-work is good, so it just skips along merrily. Until the moment our hero arrives to do the equivalent of throwing the emergency brakes on a train. The evil guys are convincing, though some of the mystery is lost when half of our hero's moves resemble what a 12 year old would learn in karate class, with its silly forms and such. It's as if the movie was made in spite of the guy, but more likely, a magical thing occurred, it's a fish out of water story, forest kung fu dork guy forced to act in real movie. The music in this movie is very odd too, during non-dangerous scenes there's sometime this repeating diddy of doom going on threatening something which never comes. The hero kicking ass sometimes gets these weird scores which sound like they're from a very patriotic anime. Just when you think you can't handle the hero anymore, the movie actually grabs you back in and keeps you wondering what's coming. Are the bad guys cannibals? Are they mutants? What are they going to do with the girl? While we know how it's all going to get resolved, quite stupidly obviously, we kind of want to know WHAT'S getting resolved. At one point after a fight some guy yells "that was like something out of a video game!" which makes sense because our hero looks like he learned everything he knows from playing too much FarCry on his Playstation 4. The kills are good, so I give it a 3.

I've seen better character development in a game of Guess Who.

[james_shaw1990 · 2/10 · 7 May 2016]

I will give credit where credit is due, the set design and makeup is decent, but that's is it for the positives for this film. This movie wouldn't be enjoyed by anyone with a mental mentality over a 12 year old's. The characters are as cookie cut as they come, the snobby rich kid, the over sexed teens, and you just want them to hurry up and die faster so you don't have to cringe at their presence any longer, I don't think you were meant to side with the murderers in this movie, but that's what it makes you do. at one point I was saying to myself "they better make that douche suffer" Our hero in this movie, the ex Seal is incredibly unbelievable, due to equally bad acting and fighting choreography. Having making a thing about being "aware of your surroundings" you could sneak up on this idiot on bubble-wrap carpet while tap dancing in golf shoes.

The thing I found most infuriating about this movie is the Seal was trying to save his girlfriend and the cookie cut kids but wasted all these precious moments in the woods building elaborate booby traps, with the hopes that a single antagonist would stumble through, among the dozens, while he was playing Rambo in the woods, his main objective was being raped and murdered, it wasn't until the climax that he decided he had enough of playing Hunger Games in the woods and decided to go save his girlfriend.

The whole movie was just a sloppy, badly thought out mess, and a complete waste of time, so hopefully you will decide to not endure this film like I have.

2/10 set design and makeup is the only thing that justified not giving it a 1/10.

Paul Logan's pecs are the star

[michael-3204 · 2/10 · 2 December 2016]

No doubt the reason for a brand of whey protein a power drink are thanked in the credits to "The Horde" is because they helped keep its multi-functioning star Paul Logan -- who also wrote, produced and did fight choreography -- shredded and pumped. Logan's big biceps and lean, mean torso are the main attraction of this turkey, and a few more shirtless scenes would have been welcome. There's not much else to look at or appreciate.

Logan plays a SEAL who accompanies his fiancé, the world's worst nature photography teacher at some kind of probably for-profit rip- off college, on an "extra-credit" class camping trip. She has great advice like "try different settings" and "experiment," and inspirational pitches like "there's beauty everywhere." Her remedial students aren't terribly interested in photography and seem barely able to hold a camera -- one could be forgiven for thinking the film's title refers to them instead of the group of inbreds who kill, kidnap and torture them in the woods, until of course the muscular Logan snaps into action. The students are all either one thing -- the spoiled rich kid is just a spoiled rich kid, the horny couple is horny all the time -- or nondescript. Logan the screenwriter hasn't mastered creating characters that are remotely lifelike, even his own is one-dimensional. That's probably why they cast terrible actors -- why waste the money on good actors when you aren't giving them anything to play?

This is a combination trip-to-the-woods horror film and "Rambo"/"Missing in Action" style military action film. I guess we are too far removed from Vietnam for Logan to be re-fighting that war, so instead he picks off mutants of the horde the way Chuck Norris used to pick off Viet-Cong. Unfortunately, the mutants are about as uninteresting and uninspired as the hapless soldiers were, which is a problem for the horror-film part of the story. Costas Mandylor does a good job as the horde's opportunistic ring-leader, and Matthew Willig looks suitably imposing as his main henchman, but isn't given enough to do. Considering how much build-up there is to the fight between Logan and Willig, it is really disappointing that it didn't turn out better. Logan the fight choreographer is fine if not innovative, and Logan the actor is good at action, but director Jared Cohn doesn't have a knack for shooting action sequences in a dynamic way, at least not on this film's obviously limited budget. There is less of a sense of place (it isn't set anywhere specific) or realism than in ultra-low-budget films like "Deadly Prey" (to which this owes a debt). They are about as deep in the woods as your average company picnic, yet somehow this mass of mutants has lived there for decades unnoticed by the people of Topanga, where this was filmed, or the staff of the Burger King that is probably 10 minutes away from the location shoots.

One oddity: Don "The Dragon" Wilson, for my money the least interesting action star of the 1990s, has an entirely pointless cameo. I guess they couldn't get Norris.

Godfather of bad movies

[ruprupruphihihi · 1/10 · 10 May 2016]

This movie is bad. I mean really really bad. When the production team wanted to create a horror movie the director misread their intentions and created a horrible movie instead. Even watching pirated copy of this movie will make your heart bleed for the loss of internet data.

Story - There is none. A teachers who teaches nothing and is a horrible role model takes 5 students and his ex-Navy seal husband to a forest trip for photography and letting them go alone deep in forest so that everyone can celebrate honeymoon in forest. Her husband is an ex navy seal whose body is so stiff that he could barely lift his legs for kicks.. They are attacked by a group of men whose motives are not clear..I really did not understand why they made this movie. You will hate the hero and the victims and actually thanks the criminals for ending the bad acting of the entire cast. The hero tries to play rambo with bow and arrow but his hunger games acting bleeds the eyes of the viewer. Supporting casts who gets murdered thankfully annoy the whole time with bad acting, really bad script and screen presence. The director of this movie is not even suitable to play video games. I regret watching this movie so much.

The whole movie felt like a modelling audition for all the cast members and the director must have been high on drugs. This MOVIE IS PATHETIC..REALLY BAD.

Holy Hillbilly Head Soup Heavy on the Heart Punch

[cwbellor · 3/10 · 14 October 2020]

There are rip-offs and then there are rip-offs of rip-offs. Backwoods was a 2008 rip-off of The Hills Have Eyes, complete with mutant hillbilly cannibals, women kidnapped for breeding, etc. Hell, it was even filmed in the same part of LA county. Eight years later, you have Paul Logan's The Horde. This film was written by Logan as well and it would appear that his sense of character is about as dense as his left ab when he takes a punch to the six pack.

Here's the character roll call. We've got the snotty don't-you-know-who-my-father-is kid. Pete Buttigieg and his veteran status be damned, this gay teen reinforces any suspicion you might have had that queer folk just don't appreciate the good old freedom they enjoy. He commits the ultimate sin of not acknowledging Logan's military service and the ultimate karmic punishment for his ignorance will come at the hands of an Australian butcher. It'll make sense later. Actually no, it won't. We've also got the teen couple who commit the sin of giving in to their overactive hormones. You guessed it, they are first to die. We've got the virginal girl who wants nothing but true love. Yes, she will be taken as a sex slave. We've also got the non-descript bore boy who we think might just rise to the challenge of hero, but nope, he is destined to contribute to hillbilly head soup.

Logan indulges his Rambohemian urges and employs just about every obligatory method of mayhem you can think of. Prepare for flaming arrows, stealthy knife attacks, even elaborate spike traps that the plot logistically gave him no time to craft.

If you can't appreciate all of the derivative glory this flick has to offer, why not just eat up the scenery? After all, this is yet another movie shot in the lush Eden of hiking trails in the Los Angeles hills. It seems to be a time-honored tradition of low-budget film making to use this area as a shooting location. Everything from black and white classics like I Was a Teenage Werewolf, to Netflix fare like Only Mine, to more sophisticated thrillers like Preservation feature this area of LA county. This is to say nothing of the countless Star Trek episodes that were also filmed there.

The Horde essentially serves as an indulgent showcase of Logan's abilities as a stunt-worthy potential action star. Considering that this simple intention likely served as the basis for the production, the movie is way too ambitious. It's a mishmash of familiar genre elements that is disjointed to say the least. It's as if Logan wrote an action script while the director sought to make a shock-horror, exploitation movie. Is it entertaining? Yes, but it's the straight-to-video equivalent of getting a combo meal at KFC. You enjoy the chicken, the fries and the coleslaw. This would be enough, but you've still got the biscuit and cookie. You look at them thinking, "I probably shouldn't, but I might as well."

WTF did i do to myself

[theshiptons · 1/10 · 27 April 2017]

This is one of the most awful movies I have put myself though for quite some time. the concept had some promise but the reliance of clichéd teen characters and the OTT hero just sunk this film from the start. it was unbelievable from the very start, wooden people in a very haunted train ride type of world. I know it is a B or even a Z movie but come on! have some respect for the viewer. I found it cringe worthy and insulting to my ability to enjoy the movie no matter how trash it was. point in question would be the likes of the Toxic avenger which is a pile of crap but man you just can't not enjoy it and good ole Toxie. this movie left me mad, I felt robbed and I really hope the actors got paid cause if this is how they make a buck they are suffering for their art. I don't know how you flush a DVD down the toilet but if some knows could they please tell me so I can put an end to this train wreck of a film

Actually not that bad

[Vampire_Von_Suckington · 6/10 · 3 March 2020]

Acting isn't horrendous, "storyline" is fairly basic, Sydney Sweeney is cute as hell, and the gore effects are pretty good. All in all a decent slice of splatterpunk.

Fun in a bad way

[clubberlang786 · 5/10 · 30 May 2016]

This film has a totally unoriginal plot of a school trip to wrong turn country. The subplot is the teacher has a boyfriend who is Rambo. So when the action starts its is bad guy after bad guy that dies. The gore effects were surprisingly good but the acting was unbelievable and unrealistic.

In a good film the viewer is made to feel empathy for its characters but in this film there is virtually no character development and you do not care for any of the people in the film. In fact the total opposite I wanted them annoying teens to get killed.

There's a scene where a kid has his tongue yanked out and a few minutes later he's talking. Maybe it grew back. There was virtually no suspense or scares in the film. It was an action film with a few bits of blood thrown in. Its watchable and even fun but a very shallow viewing experience.

This movie was plain fun, get over it!

[rootuser-40030 · 8/10 · 18 May 2016]

Please see my rating system below. I am not a producer, promoter, or in any way financially attached to this film (other than I paid to buy it)

Sit down and get ready for a mix of Rambo meets Friday the 13th meets The Hills Have Eyes! The Horde is a dive in to a world of drug runners, hill folk, and a photography class outing that all come colliding together for an action/horror flick that gave me a lot I didn't expect.

As a kind of typical slasher flick, think you've seen this movie before in some iteration? Quite possibly, until we add a slight wrinkle. Not all of the campers are hapless victims, and in fact, one of them is a former Navy Seal, and BAM! suddenly we change gears into Man on Fire meets the Most Dangerous Game meets Taken.

John Crenshaw (played by Paul Logan) becomes our hero and sets out to rescue his campers and rid the world of the hideous Hill People Drug, Rape and Cannibalism Cartel (that's a joke), infamously known the world over as the HPDRCC. Logan does an excellent job with the stunts. I don't typically expect to see many if any stunts, and if there are any it's usually camera work, but in this case we had several well choreographed fight scenes. In particular, when Stone (Matthew Willig) squares off against John Crenshaw, the shots look great. NO WIRES. No fake camera, and we get to see just a couple of guys doing their own stunts and I think it plays out well.

The main bad guy, Cylus, played by Costas Mandylor comes off as your typical maniacal, egotistical, erudite, enlightened psychopath, and Mandylor just nails it. I really believe Costas should be the person playing Neegan right now in the Walking Dead. I buy his character even with the lack of dialog he has. He is the man in charge and you believe it throughout the movie.

The entire crew does their job, each one of them over-doing his or her role to the most annoying point where I am relieved to begin to see them get chopped up one by one. This is the point of the movie isn't it? I don't feel too bad when anyone dies, and some points, I'm rooting for the Hill people and I loved it! Then when I realized the hill people were sicker that heck, thanks to the role played by the immortal Vernon Wells as Earl, I begin to think they are going to get what's coming to them in the form of a John Crenshaw knife bomb to the top of the head.

Overall, if you are looking for a FUN movie, that is not afraid to pay homage to many great horror flicks in it's own way, then you'll have fun with this one. The price is right at $3 on Amazon and it's worth a Saturday night sit down. If you paid $15 to watch the Fantastic 4 that quite literally had 100 times or more the budget of this movie, and you wanted your money back like I did for that Fantastic 4 piece of garbage, $3 is a real bargain for something entertaining.

Walk in knowing what to expect, and quit expecting to get big Hollywood out of movies that are shot in just a couple of weeks, that folks barely get paid, and that isn't the umpteenth remake of a comic book I read in grade school. These movies are supposed to FUN! Have FUN and turn off your "Critic" filter and maybe just enjoy the spread!

**** My rating system **** I have rated well over 700 movies on IMDb, and written reviews for quite a few. I try to take a scientific approach and as a result, my ratings fit a bell-curve pattern as would be expected over a large sample set. I am slightly skewed on the tail (Hey, when I hate a movie I hate it) and slightly under represented on the head (Hard to find a perfect 10 IMHO).

I rate Independent flicks against independent flicks, and I rate big Hollywood against big Hollywood. It is not fair to take a movie that cost tens of thousands of dollars or less and compare it to a movie that costs 7 or 8 figures (Maybe 9!) With unlimited retakes, huge production crews, massive marketing budgets, teams of professional writers/re-writers etc. I expect more out of big Hollywood movie. I try to rate equally on story.

I like to take the time to write reviews about smaller independent movies rather than movies that 1000s of reviews as I hope some one takes what I write seriously rather than getting lost in a cacophony of similar voices.

Better than I expected!

[Hoganette · 7/10 · 19 May 2016]

After reading the reviews here, I was hesitant to watch this movie. I love slasher movies like Friday the 13th and those kinds of things but some people here really just trashed it.

No, there was not great character development in the entirety of the ~88 minutes this movie ran for. But then again I tuned in for a horror / action movie not to watch The Piano. I didn't want nor expect drama. I wanted kicking and punching and buckets of blood and that's exactly what I got!

Setting your expectation when you go in is important.

The action was fun, and a good kind of fist fighting that I like. Paul Logan and Matt Willig are both pretty rough and tumble in this movie and for a low budget movie the stunts are really cool.

I heard on the radio during an interview with Paul Logan, Matt Willig, and Costas Mandylor that Paul payed homage to his dad in the movie in several places and when I watched it I noticed and it was really cool he did that. That was worth an entire star by itself for me.

The Horde is a GOOD horror and action movie. I really enjoyed it because I knew exactly what to expect and exactly what not to. Being this is Paul Logan's first script I'll give him a break on the cheesy lines here and there, but even when they were a bit cheesy Costas Mandylor, Matt Willig and crew delivered well. In particular I liked the Cylus character Costas played. Total bad guy and I loved it. Would have liked to see more of Costas on screen.

Overall, I liked the movie. Don't be too turned off by the negative reviews and I'm glad I didn't let them influence me too heavily. Just realize this is a low budget horror movie and enjoy the heck out of your few bucks!

There are certain kinds of folks that write reviews for these indie films, and they fall into just a few categories.

A. People who love movies! (that's me!)

B. People who trash on other people's work because they are jealous (Trolls, boo!)

C. People who think they are critics like some people think they are foodies (delusional!)

D. People who generally just want to spread an honest word about a movie they saw (Good folk)

Figure out which is which and you'll know which reviews to place stock in.

MTP Bomb

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 3/10 · 8 May 2022]

MTP Murder Torture Porn type movie. Has a few redeeming one liners but wow is it otherwise stupid. Hillbillies and escaped convicts bought the cops and are cooking meth and living like Kings in the bayou or something. In comes John Rambo and his wife to be and her students and a love fest ensues.

Boring.

3/10.

These woods have eyes: First Blood

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 21 January 2018]

Students go into the well manicured woods around Sapphire Lake where earlier we saw a "horde" of deformed men chase down a young female "breeder." John Crenshaw (Paul Logan) is an ex-SEAL who still pumps iron in front of a mirror. He goes along with the group and reacts as if this is a formula film, Rambo style. It was like Rambo vs Mutants. It was one of those jaw dropping moments where you watch in disbelief not knowing if they meant the film to be this campy or it just worked out that way. Riley (Matthew Willig) for instance was a Sheldon Cooper type as a rich know it all snob. Camp Value.

Guide: Brief rape (panties and bra still on) , brief side breast nudity.

Tight Logan, Bad Mandylor

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 30 September 2021]

By that I mean that Logan has quite the ... pecs! Not sure how old he is, but that body of his ... respect to the man! And by bad Mandylor I'm obviously refering to the moral of his character as in evil. You may have heard of those two, you likely have heard of some other actors who only grace the screen for a small amount of time, like Don Wilson or Bill Moseley. Easy money I assume for them and something to recognize for the viewers who care.

The movie is not really good overall, very predictable, not the best fight choreography and all that. But it also is not the worst thing I've seen (and not just because I just finished watching cats ... that's a different story alltogether) ... not even close. Logan seems to have a signature kick move, it's been a while since I last saw a movie of his. Anyway, if you are into B-movie stuff, you might find something interesting for you. A beautiful location for example all things considered.

What's with the lips?

[lighterthanair-82569 · 1/10 · 11 June 2022]

I couldn't handle more than 20 or 30 minutes of lame script and horrible acting. And why is a Navy Seal wearing lipstick or lip gloss? They should be billed as the star of the movie.

Poor

[steveuk-76085 · 2/10 · 25 November 2020]

This film could of been sooooooo much better. Everything about it was poor, Acting, filmography, direction....When you think it is going somewhere it doesn't!. Shame!

Is it Action or Horror?

[andrew-towers · 3/10 · 8 May 2016]

As far as a horror movies go this isn't all bad. Yes it's killer hillbillys plus some torture porn thrown in. Yes it definitely follows the numbers of the killer hillbilly genre. However the Rambo hero played by Paul Logan who is a terrible actor really lets the whole thing down. OK we have all the annoying teenagers going camping in the woods you usually get in these sort of movies but let's face it watch these movies for the killers right. This is where this movie rises above we have Vernon Wells(Commando,The Road Warrior) Costas Mandylor(Saw Franchise) Matthew Willig(Year One) plus more as our bad guys. These guys aren't the Wrong Turn type of killers but escaped cons holding up with a few locals in the woods. The movie plays out more like an action movie however and this is where it goes wrong. Our hero slashes his way through the cast of baddies with ease therefore taking out any sort of tension the The Horde tried to build. I have to blame the director for this because they had good actors not given enough screen time(Bill Mossely as a bartender, Nestor Serrano as a cop what a waste) so Paul Logan can flex his way through. To sum up not the worst out there but far from the best.

A delightful blend of throwback 80s and 90s action and horror

[aftermoviediner · 7/10 · 10 May 2016]

The Horde is to be applauded. Applaud The Horde.

Pause for applause.

"Why is it to be applauded?!" I hear you cry, well, there are many reasons.

Mainly because 1) It is an independent film that puts practical effects above terrible CGI 2) It mixes the kind of fun, straight to video martial arts I miss from the 80s and 90s with the sort of surreal, gory and mad horror I miss from the 70s and 80s 3) It is enjoyable and doesn't take itself seriously without trying hard to be ironically so bad it's good. 4) All the "cameo" or supporting players do an amazing job chewing the scenery - especially Vernon Wells in his sequence. 5) It's lit and set designed really well.

If you had to pitch The Horde to your genre loving friends in a sentence then it would be "Rambo versus The Hills Have Eyes" or "John Matrix versus the Wrong Turn inbreds"

The Horde feels like a film made by genre film fans for genre film fans. It skirts around the edges of being knowing, having cinematic frames of reference and certainly aiming to attract a midnight crowd but not only is it apparent, from the fight set pieces to the practical special effects, that a huge amount of dedicated work and craftsmanship has been put into making it but it's also having immense fun just being an entertaining, adult, tearaway, violent, gory romp.

When I first put the film on I had no idea what I was in for. I assumed it was going to be just another zombie film, probably because of the french film of the same name. In fact, the name of the movie could've been given a little rethink, not just because it is a familiar name of other films and a computer game but also because it doesn't sit completely right, for me, with what happens in the movie (but that's a small nitpick).

Initially the film was reminiscent of some of the later entries in the Friday 13th franchise. The early slasher kill sequence, the set up of the cliché youthful characters, the purposefully weak innuendoes about sex, the improbable excuse to go into the woods in the middle of nowhere, the forced dialogue etc. Have to admit, it had me a little cautious that this was going to be a difficult movie to get through. Remember, I had no idea what the film was about or what was about to happen. I also need to indicate that if you're an 80s horror fan, you'll be no stranger to this type of dialogue.

It wasn't till we got to the Don Wilson cameo, followed by the barroom brawl, and meatheads were taking flying kicks to the face that I sat up and my mind changed.

I am a huge 80s and 90s action fan and also a huge 80s horror fan and so what happened next appealed to me greatly, especially once the night-time roller-coaster of carnage and mayhem got underway.

The main cast of the kids and the teacher are a mixture of newcomers and up and comers. They all handle themselves fine. Two of them aren't given much to do but make out and talk about making out, but that's sort of to be expected, two of them have a little more to do as they seem on the brink of a relationship but are also a little more down to earth, nervous and normal teens.

Sydney Sweeney, whose part gets considerably more challenging as the film goes on, does well with the softer, sweeter dialogue in the earlier part of the film and her small scene with Tiffany Brouwer is a stand out before everything gets dark and nasty.

I am not sure if being affectively annoying and punchable is something to be praised but Thomas Ochoa, with the equally punchable character name of Riley St. Claire, is highly successful as the spoilt, rich daddy's boy who doesn't have a kind word to say about anyone and who can't stop gassing on about all his money. It's quite timely really as he is like a skinny, young, dark haired, effeminate Donald Trump.

Rounding out the main cast is our hero, the aforementioned, Paul Logan. He wrote the film, produced it, stars in it and did the fight choreography. That's very, very impressive and I doubt the man had much sleep. Doing multiple jobs like that on a lower budget movie means long days, short nights and not much sitting down. His fighting style is watchable and accomplished. I felt it could've been served better with a different shooting style and slightly better editing but it definitely got the point across and made for some entertaining rumbles.

For those in the know, the supporting cast is a who's who of action and horror stalwarts that are having a wonderful time chewing the scenery and tearing up the screen.

The last thing to be said on The Horde, which I hinted at earlier, is just how refreshing it was to see an indie genre movie of this kind use real make-up effects, proper design, lighting and set dressing, great stunts, martial arts and so on. A lot of modern films lack that authenticity and it always makes a movie, in my view, when I can see strange, wonderful and creative ideas, designs and effects on the screen.

The movie has just about a little bit of everything. It is violent, gruesome, gory, disgusting, sexy, fun, enjoyable, weird, surreal and action packed. A B-Movie in every sense of the word. With a more dynamic director and a snappier, tighter edit this film could really be a new cult favourite. As it stands it is a valiant effort, with some highly enjoyable ideas and moments, practical effects and stunts galore. I'd watch a sequel.

Yet Another Cookie-Cutter Horror Movie

[dcarsonhagy · 1/10 · 12 May 2016]

"The Horde"--not to be confused with a 2010 release from France (known as "Le Horde" (and not to mention a MUCH better movie)--is yet another reply of a teenagers-die-in-the-woods movie.

Paul Logan plays John Crenshaw, a one-man wrecking crew and overall bad ass, who accompanies his bride-to-be, and her students on a photography field trip to Sapphire Mountain to complete a school project. You have your typical stereotypes in the lot: the couple who just need to get a room, the virgin, and the so-obnoxious-he- needs-to-die-immediately person. Seems the kiddies and their chaperons run into a group of badly made up goons while on the trip. Mayhem ensues, people die, and no one really cares.

Of course, you cannot just off these characters. They all must suffer. One is cannibalized (while alive), one has her hands nailed to a table and then is repeatedly raped, one has her head bashed in against some rocks...well, you get the picture.

Starring in this really bad movie are Vernon Wells, the original bad ass from the original "Road Warrior" movie, Costas Mandylor, who played in a billion of the "Saw" movies (yet still cannot act his way out of a paper bag), and Bill Moseley, who has about as much acting ability as a turnip. Paul Logan goes around with his shirt off quite a bit, and poses tons for the camera.

Garbage and not recommended. Rated "R" for graphic violence, rape, brief nudity, and language. The only thing this movie had going for it was the teenagers actually LOOKED like teenagers.

An absolute blast!

[Marcey13 · 8/10 · 6 June 2016]

I had such a good time with this film, it just fitted my own personal tastes so well. I love action and I love horror and blending them together is tricky but I feel it was done extremely well here.

Paul Logan is a great and likable lead, he is a bad-ass that I would want on my side! Not only does he star but he wrote the script as well, and he does know his stuff.

The action hits hard and the horror is gruesome, what more could you ask for? The cast all do a pretty good job, there is the awesome inclusion of Costas Mandylor and Vernon Wells - who almost steals the show as well!

Full Review: https://supermarcey.com/2016/06/06/review-the-horde-2016/

Good viewing

[gulchu · 6/10 · 13 May 2020]

Not an Oscar nominee, but entertaining and a good way to kill 90 minutes. Recommended.

Braindead and Great Mutant Killing

[DongDiggity · 3/10 · 23 May 2022]

The dialogue is really bad, the CGI is poor, but there's a lot of violence and taking out human garbage! Honestly, this film doesn't hide how cheesy it is and if you can't tell from the trailer it's meant to be a laugh then the jokes on you. I'm amazed how many "reviews" make it seem one needs to be dumb to make this flick enjoyable. Looking at some of their higher rated films makes them big hypocrites.

If you're after a lot of violent bad guy mutant killing and annoying characters taken out, this is for you. It's cringy dialogue and stuff but it's fun especially high.

from good on-camera effects to CGI for blood effects

[trashgang · 5/10 · 24 April 2017]

Even as this has a lot of killings going on and the red stuff do flows and flies around I found it a rather boring flick. The reason is the fact that the story is very simple but somehow I didn't believed it. For example, this is all about deformed people, yes, you guessed it, inbreed and hillbillies. Done by some uranium getting into the tab water.

But all those deformed ones do have leaders and they are convicts that escaped. I can dig all that but that they live in the woods at a place that is popular by locals and hiking people makes it a bit weird. I mean, they kill for years and still nobody is tracking them down. Is it the fact that the cops are corrupted?

In the beginning the killings are really okay and are messy but it's once that an old SEAL comes in hiking with his wife and some school kids that it becomes so obvious who's going to die first (the annoying gay) and who will flash her juggs (the blond one again). To make it all more gory a bow is used by the SEAL to go kill them all. From there on CGI enters the massacre and the whole movie collapses. When one's leg is being cut off hanging upside down on a tree, the blood is 100% CGI and by then most of the things you see are CGI, the explosion is the worst.

Still it's a mediocre flick with a lot of thespians you will recognize from the old days. Sadly I had to sit through it all with some yawns going on.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Rambo VS Wrong Turn

[drewcornish89 · 5/10 · 13 October 2021]

If you come into this expecting a low budget, then you won't be completely disappointed. Decent action sequences. Some pretty good kills with decent gore. Not a great film but if you like inbred cannibal gore and beefed up guys shooting bows, its a decent watch.