Bloody Axe Wound

The premise of this script is hilarious: the adopted daughter of a serial killer is ready to take over the family business. Or thinks she's ready until she falls for the cool girl in biker jacket and lip gloss who is next on the kill list. The nostalgic 80s context was perfect, down to every hairstyle, rattly car, and interaction with cassette technology. Good performances from an appealing and funny cast.

I like how the film cleverly has it both ways. I didn't really want to see adorable, dutiful daughter Abbie Bladecut become a cold-blooded killer, but this is a horror movie after all. So people do have to go in bloody, sometimes hilariously accidental ways. I had to close my eyes several times, and laughed a lot.

This movie is most easily described as your average teen slasher with a bit of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon mixed in. We follow Abbie Bladecut, the daughter of a local serial killer and slasher legend. After her father realizes he is getting older, he wants her to continue his legacy of killing innocent teenagers. However, the problem arises when she joins her local high school and is met with kindness and love from the other students. She even finds a potential love interest, which makes her mission to kill rather difficult.

The pitch sounds great, and the movie had immense potential to create something as unique as Behind the Mask. Unfortunately, that potential is not fulfilled, and the movie ends up feeling pretty generic given its premise. The characters are dull and not particularly interesting, and aside from the developing love interest, there isn't much for the audience to latch onto. Even the romance feels generic and disrupts the pacing by creating tonal inconsistencies within the narrative.

Instead of action and kills, we get boring conversations and a fairly predictable romantic subplot. The comedy rarely lands and is definitely not the film's strongest suit. However, the kills are decent and the gore is solid, which is arguably the most important aspect a straightforward slasher needs to deliver.

The movie ends up being enjoyable overall, but it's far from great or particularly engaging. Genre fans might still have a decent time, but with a premise like this, it could have been much more unique and entertaining. Sadly, it just ends up as another average horror release.

[5.3/10]

I've never seen a film that so nonchalantly asks you to simply accept the ridiculousness of its premise. It doesn't even try to explain the absurdity and implausibility of it all. There isn't even anyone filming these murders? I thought I was losing my mind. After about 20 minutes though I realised the only way to get any enjoyment out of the film was to simply sit back, accept it, and go along for the ride. Even then, it's touch and go whether you'll enjoy it.

The one thing the movie does well, and really its saving grace, is that it creates some likable characters. It's hard to make a young woman who murders innocents for profit into a pleasant character, but the movie finds a way. Also some of the side characters are quite well created. And so while the horror and story may not always be working for you, at least you can fall back on that.

Some of the gore was quite effective and it's a nice and short film. It knows not to outstay its welcome. It's not all bad, but it certainly does require some effort on the audience's part. A generous 5/10.

I went into this blind knowing nothing about it. The whole premise of this movie was something I had not exactly seen before. While I found it somewhat predictable, that had no effect on the joy of watching. I jump from movie to movie if they bore me and not only was I not bored, but I didn't pause the movie at any point as I wanted to see how this would play out. I would have liked to know more background on the main family, there was enough I guess but I want to know why the father is so sure of why these things need to happen. Was some other force a driving factor in what they do or is it just their own set of rules that they always follow to a T. Either way I think anyone will enjoy the watch.

Abigail is the daughter of legendary serial killer (and snuff film maker) Roger Bladekill. When Roger starts to see the effects of age slow him down, he entrusts Abbie to follow in his footsteps - killing teens on video. Upon entering high school to scope out her victims, she encounters friendship and more, snagging her plans of a murder spree. And Dad isn't happy.

Now, that's my synopsis. A good pitch right? If I was a Shudder exec, I would also be putting money behind this. It sounds pretty damn awesome.

Sadly, this falls victim to oh so much. The writing is not coherent in its genre or mood, the characters are given some depth, but it's not delivered right and they still feel 2D, the whole snuff subplot is kinda forgotten for the most part? And something that bothered me to the nth degree: this seems to be set in the 90's, but I'm not sure the costume or set department got the memo.

That bothered me probably more than it should. The 90s have this specific...touch. Taste. Vibe. The clothes used here seem to be repurposed modern day pieces layered to appear grunge-esque. Sam Crane wears a chain as a belt, but it looks like cheap crap bought from Hot Topic. It doesn't look NATURAL. They look like your average current day citizens.

I started noticing corded phones, cassettes, wood-panelled cars, corded headphones, and I realised this is either satirising the popularity of slasher flicks in the 90s or, more likely, supposed to be set in that decade. The integration of old tech didn't make it pass though, too many things were too clean, too cheap, too flimsy, all aspects that are more common to modern day items. This is very specific but it did distract a whole lot, and possibly changed the mood of the whole film.

Most acting is pretty average, with the exception of Margo Anderson-Song, Eddie Leavy, and Billy Burke (yes, Bella Swan's dad in Twilight). These three really seemed to feel their characters. They were much more into it and managed to land their jokes.

That's a whole other problem. The writing. This film doesn't quite know where it wants to sit when it comes to mood. Are we serious? Are we comedic? Are we going into slapstick humour? We can have all of it in one scene, for sure, but the way these bits are written, they mostly fall flat on the floor. It's the sort of jokes where you nod, you don't laugh. You know it's meant to be a joke, but it's terribly unfunny. And it happens every few minutes. It's unbearable. The writers didn't leave time for us to breathe. Just, maybe space the comedy out next time, okay?

I think, overall, I wish there had been a bit of reworking this script before even shooting it. With some changes, it could have even more potential. It might've even been a good film.

I don't think this should be the end for the filmmakers, I do think they clearly have a vision, but it wasn't realised here. Maybe next time.