Death Ranch

The movie starts out a bit slow. Basically we're introduced to the protagonists and find out why they are holed up in the middle of nowhere. Then the action begins when one of them sees a KKK execution in progress and intervenes. From there, you get pretty much non-stop action as the two factions battle it out.

What makes this a "horror" film instead of an "action" film is the copious amount of gore. The KKK, who are more akin to cannibal families a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre, than your usual KKK members in films are partly responsible for that gore and some of the sadism, but so are the protagonists as they quite sensibly avoid holding back while fighting a bunch of psychos who outnumber and outarm them.

And that's why I found it a guily pleasure. It doesn't have an amazing plot, or a profound message, or impressive fight scenes, or anything. But it is refreshing to watch a horror film and not have to keep thinking "WHY DIDN'T YOU MAKE SURE HE'S DEAD!!!". And, heck, it'll always fun to see any group of Klansmen get what's coming to them, and that's a major factor in making this a guilty pleasure. No woke preaching about intersectionality. No stunt casting (yes, the KKK are miraculously all white males in this one). Just good guys fighting evil racists.

It is well filmed -- no cheap digicam footage feel or anything like that. The fx are effective enough. Heck, I even like the titles which were pure Tarrantino. And I always liked a 70s rural setting for horror. And bonus points for not one single annoying teen in the film.

If you read what this is about ... well even if you haven't - the movie becomes quite clear fast enough. That being said, there is a lot you have to "endure" until the movie gets into gear. But it still is relatively short running time wise.

And it also boasts quite the nice special effects. Which brings me to the point that you should not have issues with blood and other disgusting things that this movie is depicting. There is a lot of violence and there is a lot of "stabbing" and/or shooting. There will be blood and guts one may say. If that floats your boat, you could do a lot worse. Still this decent and has the social message of don't be racist ... and an empowering one at that ... even if the actors may not be able to carry that burden fully ... it still is there for entertainment values. Which also brings us to the uneven tone ... serious and bloody on one hand, ridiculous and goofy on the other ... doesn't quite work with one of the bad guys - who cannot be taken seriously and therefor loses some of his touch/menace ... but I may be nitpicking! You decide if it works or not ... just cut it some slack.

While the acting isn't the best and the story & characters are paperthin at best, what surprisingly makes this British low-budget gem fun are the top-notch practical gore effects, the cool Grindhouse-style cinematography & visuals, really fast pacing, good direction and writing, and a cool premise/concept.

This movie is better than it had any business being, definitely worth a look!

I must say that I liked this 2020 movie's cover/poster and it definitely had a retro blaxploitation feel to it. And since I hadn't already seen this movie before, and I had the opportunity to do so now in 2021, of course I did so.

And while "Death Ranch" certainly is a watchable movie, it was sadly also a rather bland and mundane movie. "Death Ranch" doesn't bring anything new to this particular style of revenge horror movie that haven't already been seen or done better in other similar movies. Now, don't get me wrong here, I am not saying that "Death Ranch" was a bad movie. Not at all. It just was a mediocre one when it came to it.

The storyline was pretty straight forward, but to the point where it was rather predictable, and that was something that served as an anchor and held the movie back. So writer and director Charlie Steeds sort of shot himself in the foot here with the way he opted to take the story and the movie.

It should be said, though, that what made "Death Ranch" watchable was the amount of blood, gore and mayhem throughout the course of the movie. There certainly was more than enough to keep a seasoned horror veteran and gorehound such as myself content. And I will say that the this movie is rather visceral and visual, and that definitely worked well in favor of the movie.

The acting in "Death Ranch" was adequate, taking into consideration the type of movie that you are sitting down to watch. So don't go expecting any grand, stellar acting performances that will reap an abundance of Academy awards.

All in all, "Death Ranch" was a watchable, albeit generic and bland one. It can easily be watched a single time around, but I doubt that I will ever be sitting down to watch "Death Ranch" a second time. My rating of "Death Ranch" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

I stumbled across this on Prime and the description of three black people running from the law and ending up on the hunting grounds of the Klan was enough to hook me. But wow, what followed was so unexpected! Cannibalism, extreme violence, bloodshed, and carnage - all the things you want in a horror movie. And even though the main protagonist was an escaped criminal, you couldn't help but pull for him to come out on top at the end. Ignore the lower rated reviews - this is pure fun and a total must see!