Abattoir

Newspaper reporter Julia Talben (Jessica Lowndes) is tired of doing stale real estate stories. Her sister Amanda's entire family is massacred. Julia and police detective Declan Grady find a blood-drenched Richard Renshaw inside the house. Renshaw surrenders but Julia finds no easy answers. Somebody quickly buys the house and the crime scene is mysteriously ripped out. It's one of many murder rooms collected over the years by Jebediah Crone (Dayton Callie).

This is trying very hard to be a brutal noir. Any bright joy is stripped out of the frame. Even daylight looks bleak. While I appreciate the attempt, it is not all together successful. It struggles visually with the lower budget and weak directing. The intentional lifelessness leaves the movie lifeless. It looks more cheap than stylized. As a horror, there is nothing to be had until the last part with the rooms. Simple jump scares are beyond this movie. Crone doesn't even appear for the first half. This fails on a very basic level.

2.5 / 10.

The acting of the main actress was totally unimpressive to me. The plot of the film had potential, but it was very slow and became more and more uninteresting. Also the story has a lot of holes and it all ends without the explanation I have been waiting for throughout the film. I am definitely disappointed.

The good:

Some gorgeous set design and interesting photography. Dayton Callie is splendid as the "villain." Some of the special effects are quite entertaining. Jessica Lowndes is very striking.

The bad:

Jessica Lowndes' acting is rather wooden, but Meryl Streep couldn't save this script.

If there was a script. The plot is utterly incomprehensible.

Heed the advice given regarding the haunted forest: Stay very far away!

A bigger budget horror flick that changes up the haunted house plot a little bit. A journalist visits her sisters house some time after she is murdered to find the room she was killed in has been taken. Literally. Things get weird when she finds out someone has been buying up homes where tragic deaths occur and stripping the house of the room where they died. Who is doing this and where are they taking it? This is what she intends to find out as she sets out to her hometown.

The film does kick out a fair share of intense scenes. It is a very slow builder as you learn more and more taking its time for the climax for sure. It sort of had a feel of Rose Red with some twists. I think you'll enjoy this one.

'Abattoir' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was very weak, its worst elements being pretty awful, with a lot more wrong than right. 'Abattoir' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however a few decent, even good, qualities in 'Abattoir'.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the very nice way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it.

Found too that 'Abattoir' started off fairly promisingly with a few effectively spooky moments.

However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours insult the intelligence. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is also terrible, particularly from the lead actress.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. A lot of the film completely fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. The last third badly sags in momentum and the atmosphere completely falls flat.

In conclusion, very weak but not unwatchable. 3/10 Bethany Cox