The Barn

I accidentally watched this thinking it was The Barn from 2016. Amazon Prime has them mixed up on their Prime Video website. This movie was extremely bad, so please dont make the same mistake I did thinking its the other movie. This one is horrible.

Very strange film. Interesting concept... crappy acting... meh

I only watched it because I was actually born and raised in Sugar Grove, Va. I'm not sure how it is I only recently heard of the movie. I was a little disappointed by the lack of effort to make it seem authentic because the accents weren't even close to Appalachian and there are several scenes with cellphones and there's no service in Sugar Grove, which could have been useful for a horror film. Anyway, the only reason I'm here is to correct something in the trivia section. The trivia states that 37 is a little too cold for a winters day in VA which isn't true at all, we average below 30 the entire winter and often get much colder. I guess the trivia was as poorly researched as the the setting because while we're technically considered a southern state, it's quite cold in the mountains.

This concept seems like it would have made a great short film. At almost 2 hours, though, it's an hour+ too long and has no idea what to do with the time.

Admittedly, I watched it on accident because it was mixed up on Prime. This wasn't one of those happy accidents, though. For a movie with serial killers, zombie kids, a random reporter and a wild card cop, it really feels like absolutely nothing happens. It's akin to a really boring episode of The Walking Dead. A romance comes and goes out of nowhere. A couple major character deaths are treated like they were worth nothing extras, which feels like an intentional plot device until you realize it's definitely not.

To their credit, the actors themselves are solid. Even the writing isn't the worst. I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn there is a really good short out there that this was built on. I wish it had stayed there, if so. It's just.so.boring.

Wow, who would have thought that The Walking Dead would revive Zombie movies and that there would be soooooo many.

Ok, that being said, The Barn brings fresh ideas. The movie is set in post pandemic Sugar Grove Va, on a farm. Things have quieted down and 10 years have past sine the pandemic subsided. There are 2 remaining detainment camps, both in Texas.

The virus effected people under 24 mostly. Sugar Grove is a small town and when new cases arise they are brought to the farm and into The Barn they go. To make matters worse, a serial killer is working the area as well. The concept is new and there is a multilayered storyline that keeps moving, not boring the viewer.

Ok, yes, some green acting, but overall not bad at all. Scene location, camera work both good, the music matches well. No out of focus shots and good sound mixing. The makeup was surprisingly good. There is a scene where a guy prys off one of his fingernails and it looks great, very well done.

I love a good low budget movie thats well done, as this is. It has enough, but not too much of anything. It avoids crossing into cheesy territory. Its better then many other movies i have seen lately.