Desecrated

The 80's…

…an era where slashers sliced and diced their way to the top of the horror scene…

…these days are long gone.

The first fifteen years of the 2000's featured more ghosts and demonic possessions than they did unstoppable monsters or folks who have the ability to wield kitchen knifes better than the top chefs in the world. Sure, we have witnessed the birth of Mick Taylor and the Wolf Creek franchise. Yeah, Saw and Jigsaw have made a huge impact in the horror game. Fair enough that Victor Crowley from Hatchet, Chromeskull from Laid to Rest, and Leslie Vernon from Behind The Mask have also made considerable impacts on horror fans. However, if you mention any of these names to a casual movie-goer who does not know a single thing about horror, I bet you only Jigsaw can possibly ring a bell. They aren't nearly as popular as good old Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Chucky, or Jason Voorhees. It is the demons of Paranormal Activity or the titles with the devil in them that sell tickets these days. I'm at the point where I'm tired of demons. It is a new year and 2015 offers a new slasher flick in the form of Desecrated. Is this our chance to relive the glory days once again?

The plot is simple enough. Haylie Duff plays a wealthy girl named Allie McClean. She takes her friends up to her isolated ranch house for a fun weekend of the usual stuff. The usual stuff isn't as fun as usual due to a grumpy caretaker who doesn't usually like visitors. Unless they are dead. He sure seems to have fun killing his visitors. We should be able to have fun watching him kill his visitors, right? I don't think I did. Everything about Desecrated is done in the most bland way possible. The characters? Bland. The only character who is not bland is an obnoxious prick. Nothing more. His girlfriend is a pretty lady with an accent. Nothing more. Allie is a nice girl who plays the lead. Nothing more. Her boyfriend is the guy who takes charge. Nothing more. The remaining girl thinks the caretaker is good-looking. She wants to bang him. Nothing more. The final dude is kind of a wimp. He is Paul James from Greek and I know for a fact that he is quite good as an actor. This performance does not do him any good though. They are all incredibly dumb to the point where they are challenging to sympathize with. The killer himself is the most interesting character in the movie. Gonzalo Menendez does not come close to Christian Bale in American Psycho and falls short of Wolf Creek's Mick Taylor, but his psychopath military man is entertaining enough. With that said, I doubt he will be capable of haunting anyone's nightmares once the film comes to an end.

This isn't a big-budget film. I don't feel like ripping apart the filmmakers on how everything looks and sounds. It isn't impressive. I'll leave it at that. This is a cliché-ridden film with twists that don't really seem needed once everything is all said and done. I wasn't entertained the slightest bit by anything that occurs throughout this film. Mick Taylor is still the most entertaining slasher of the 2000's in my opinion.

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Superpower Film Scale: 1.5/5

1: Villainous Waste

2: Careless Bystander

3: Hero unaware of powers

4: On the verge of greatness

5: Heroic film

Standout acting heroes: Gonzalo Menendez

If I could give this movie a 0, I would. I've been watching horror movies since most of the people alive now, were yet to be born. The premise of this movie, in theory was great. The begining seem fine, another slasher movie. I'm okay with them. But the first time the princess opens up her mouth I know I will hate her. Then come her gang of imbeciles, who think they are God's gift to the universe. Immediately, I hate them all. In a normal horror movie there is at least one character you wish makes it out. NOT here. Unless it's the bad guy, which in this case, I will most likely be rooting for, for slaying them all. (No idea if that's the case, I couldn't even make it to the end. If it's the other guy that's not part of the group, good for him.)

Six college youths from SoCal sneak away to the vacation home of the lead girl (Haylie Duff) for some fun in the wilderness, but the fatigues-wearing caretaker is kind of creepy and two of them foolishly break into a hallowed trailer hidden in the forest. Havoc ensues.

"Desecrated" (2015) isn't exactly great cinema, but it delivers the goods for those in the mood for backwoods brutality and don't mind low-budget issues. Despite some expected cliches, the antagonist isn't the same-old-same-old and the characters are effectively fleshed-out in a story that's a little more intricate than the set-up suggests. It's superior to Haylie's "Backwoods" from seven years prior.

Speaking of Haylie, she does well as the protagonist supported by Heather Sossaman and Vera Rosada as the almost interchangeable brunettes Lizzie and Nina. The latter is stunning in a bikini, but don't expect nudity.

On the masculine front, Gonzalo Menendez is both entertaining and convincing as the stereotypical ex-military guy with a shaved head while Wilmer Calderon works well as the "axx clown," Eduardo (he desperately needed humbled but I can't wish upon anyone what happens). Michael Ironside shows up for a small part as Allie's father.

The movie runs 1 hour, 22 minutes, and was shot in Ojai, which is located in the desert high country 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles, as well as Playa del Rey & Marina del Rey, which are on the coast, just west of the city.

GRADE: B-

Nothing worthwhile happen in the movie. It's the basic slasher movie, bunch of teenagers go to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, the caretaker went crazy is start to killing them.

Generally, movies like this try to make the movie a little more interesting appelling with sex, violence or comedy, but this one don't even do that. Take even so much time to the killing happen...and it's not that interesting.

Nothing much to talk about the rest. The characters are stupid and the dialog is awful like any other slasher movie.

I have to say that I really couldn't make a lot out of the storyline if there was one - it seemed a bit like let's make it all up as we go along type of movie poorly produced and directed - I really like Haylie Duff and as an actress I think that she stood head and shoulders above the other clowns - what the heck was the storyline - It had me beat and I love movies and watch them a lot of the time - Haylie steer clear from this nonsense - you are a very good actress IMHO and you deserve better roles than this - what was the bad guy all about - I like the thriller/horror genre but hey it just didn't seem to make a blind bit of sense - Haylie if you read this I'm really suggesting that you stay away from this type of stuff and work in the areas of character that you are very good at - romance and heart rending stuff are your forte as far as I have seen and you do it very well - or if you do horror/thriller stuff get a good script and a good production team - just my thoughts - I don't wish to be controversial or unpleasant