Side Sho

This is a very chilling movie from director Mike D'Anna and Lucky Kitty Productions. It's creepy, it's full of great horror, and the ending will either tick you off or stick to your brain like glue FOREVER! The performances from the actors are very well done, but where D'Anna really hits home is the creepy vibe of the whole southern goth undercurrent of the film. Moody, scary, deep, and just plain fun to watch, this film is one of the coolest horror flicks to come out since Night of the Living Dead. Yeah, you read that right. This rivals Romero. It's just so "icky". And the ending is so unexpected that you'll want to watch it over and over again to really get yourself settled. Go rent it right now and you'll see what I'm talking about. Very cool film.

Wonderful cinematography hampered by a less then stellar screenplay...

Yes, it's the ever so popular story of a family that wanders off society's beaten path and ends up being hunted by a family of freaks. At times it works, and at other times it "Sho don't", but director Michael D'Anna presents it in a visually appealing fashion. "Side Sho" is chalk full of horror clichés and plenty of bloody humor to reel in the low budget horror fans, but the story simply falls apart in the second act. You end up wondering if the funding dried up by the end of the film, because even the makeup effects seem to decline in value, and it almost seems to be rushing toward the climax with no real payoff. The acting is all over the board, some hit, some miss, with the best performance coming from the dad played by J.D. Hart. The scenery and locations look great, but the story doesn't take full advantage of this, and it just seems wasted here. It is certainly worth an evening's rental, but don't expect much more then eye candy without much filling.

A family on vacation finds out about an old tourist attraction when they make a pit stop. The father is putting together a coffee table book on unusual tourist attractions and decides that he and his family should go explore an old "freakshow". Upon arrival the family is unexpectedly greeted by the owner of the freakshow or side show. The family decides to explore the attraction. The father goes with the owner to see some of the wilder displays and gets grossed out. What the family doesn't know is that there is a whole family of freaks who are looking to add a couple of new gals to breed with a extend their family tree. The father and son take on the freaks to rescue the women of their family. Side Sho isn't a great movie by any means, but it does have it's moments. There's plenty of cool and gory kills. Running around 89 minutes, Side Sho does movie a little slow and would probably have benefited from some trimming.

Picked Side Sho on a rainy evening and gave it a try. Wife was not thrilled to watch horror but she got into it once it started. Both of us were pleasantly surprised with the quality. We did not expect much from this movie because we had not heard anything about it. We anticipated a rip off of many of the slasher movies. Not the same old story. Has some interesting twists. Don't want to give it away but was pretty good. Did not take itself too seriously but it got our attention. Was just long enough. Don't think the wife could have taken much more. Worth the effort. We both ended up enjoying it. Will tell our friends.

A family is traveling the back roads of Florida for the father's book and decide to stop at a rundown sideshow. When their car breaks down the freaks come out to play, and they want women...

For some reason, I thought this was a Charles Band production so I always put off watching it, assuming it would be a cheap, boring movie filmed inside a dark tent for the whole thing. But thankfully Side Sho is an actual attempt at making a film.

Coming out a year after the Hills Have Eyes remake, it's clear where the inspiration for the film comes from, but it is original enough that it never feels like a ripoff.

There is some surprising gore in the film, and some of the 'freaks' makeup is good, but unfortunately no one in the cast is particularly good. They're all competent but I never really care about them the way you do for the family in Hills. Likewise, you don't get to know much about the freaks either apart from the barker and the young boy. A lot of them are just generic bearded biker type men who boss the more mutated ones around.

What the film needed was a bit more in the first section. We only get to see the family walk through a couple of rooms in the side show but they don't see any of the freaks until the two boys happen to meet each other after. It needed an inciting incident for why the family was targeted.

Still, Side Sho managed to be entertaining throughout and stands out over many other shot on digital early-2000s DTV films.