Monday, July 26, 2010

Great slasher flick in 1/4 the usual time

Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! (2007)
Starring: Cali Fredrichs, Charlie Capen, Hunter Huston, Angela Schnaible and Zoe Warner
Director: Robert Cosnahan
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Four Ivy League students (Capen, Fredrichs, Huston and Schnaible) conducting an initiation into a secret society end up in the middle of a bloody massacre in a backwoods cabin.

If you've ever been amused or terrified by a slasher flick (or even both at the same time), or if you're interested in seeing a fun twist on the "psycho backwoods murder spree" film, you need to keep an eye for "Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre" at film festivals near you. It's great little film! It's funny, surprising, shocking... everything most horror films (and comedies even) shoot for but fail to achieve.

"Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre!" features some excellent photography and editing, great acting, fantastic use of music and sound--the twangs and squishy sounds during the banjo murder were both funny and disturbing--and a clever script that is truly a superior effort, with more effective twists that you find in most horror films running ten times as long this 17-minute short.

The only real complaint I have with the film is the final couple of seconds. I think it would have ended on a far stronger note without the "eyes snap open" cliche at the very end.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, 9 stars, must check this out. Heck, got to be worth it for that title alone.

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  2. I was going to say the same thing. The title sold it for me!

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  3. If it's still popping up at film festivals or available in a collection of shorts and/or online, it's worth checking out. (I saw it a couple of years ago at STIFF.)

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  4. Hehe. Stands for Seattle's True Independent Film Festival.

    I attended a couple of years in a row, but was out of town for it this year, sadly.

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