La cantina degli incubi

This is a slasher horror film with some wonderful comedic elements. Now, I don't really like slashers much, and if you're looking for a classic slasher, you might not like this film. This is not a serious slasher; it's fun, and there are some silly bits to it. Yes, it does touch on the standard slasher tropes, but with a little left-field humor. If you liked Heathers, this film might be for you. Great cinematography and sound, shot on location and mostly at night, this might be your next date night movie. Jeffrey Dean Morgan gives a great, if brief, performance, and Billy Burke shines even through the thick makeup. Keep an eye out for the Easter eggs!

Bloody Axe Wound initially comes across as another subversively interesting slasher that aims to have fun with the rules of the sub-genre, but eventually becomes a wasted idea executed in a fun enough way to keep it watchable.

Acting is decent from the Bladecuts, with Billy Burke being an easy highlight of the movie as he handles the humour and the intensity to an impressively balanced degree as the fatherly killer Roger Bladecut. Moreover, Sari Arambulo is really fitting in the lead role of Abbie Bladecut; she is able to convey the struggles and aspirations to follow in her father's footsteps in a straight-faced and very comical way that is still funny but never comes across as silly or overacting. On a more technical note, the cinematography, lighting, and practical gore effects are all very well done. And the story itself starts out pretty strong, with an interestingly funny set up, and the balancing between the jokes and the killings is done to an effective degree.

However, that is also where it seems to be a point of struggle for the film. It can't consistently maintain its aforementioned balance, where the second act very much becomes a high school romance story that very nearly hijacks the main premise several times. The third act, in an attempt the balance the scales again, instead tips them entirely to being a straight up generic slasher flick with a strange and underwhelmingly unrewarding ending.

But it's biggest weakness is by far the world building, with several aspects and plot mechanisms left either unexplored or unexplained. Furthermore, the script can never decide how it works, and it leaves the audience with an utterly baffled sense of confusion as to how particular mechanisms drive the narrative.

Overall, it is funny enough to keep you entertained, but not interesting enough to stick with you and leave any kind of lasting impression.

Save your money and watch In a Violent Nature for a significantly better homage to slasher movies

This movie's failings are numerous but above all it was boring and lame, and just doesn't keep up with the golden age of horror we have going with released such as Terrifier, Oddity, Skinamarink, Late Night with the Devil etc..

• corny plot trying to explore empathy and friendship at the expense of creating a compelling horror movie with excitement. Completely fails to capture the magic of the genre it makes meta commentary on
• no good kills, so tame and afraid to push any boundaries
• humor is completely random and is just thrown in gags (not in the good crazy way like terrifier)
• massive pacing issues. First 10 mins are interesting and then the rest of the movie is a hallmark drama

Please skip, do not encourage shudder to continue making these lame stream milquetoast releases.

I had Shudder for a year & canceled bc all the movies weren't even B movies - more like Z grade. I absolutely love JDM so I knew I had to watch this. Compared to other Shudder movies, this is award-worthy. Otherwise, it's still a good, campy slasher flick that I quite enjoyed. If all Shudder movies were like this, I'd subscribe again.

Apparently, I need 300 more words for my review. Um.. I like slashers and there's not really new ideas out there these days but this movie did pretty well with the mish-mash of general ideas. It ended in a way there could be a sequel & I'd definitely watch a sequel.

Maybe just let JDM & his wife take over Shudder so it doesn't suck.

I watch tons of horrible movies. I'm always open to independent and low-budget movies (although the huge influx from streaming services has made me hesitant). Bloody Axe Wound could have been just another one of those bad low-budget movies that I would rate low and immediately forget about.

The problem is, it has such a cool concept for the premise and an interesting spin on the subgenre. The premise of them actually doing murders so they could make movies about it is pretty awesome. And the idea of a female slasher villain sounds highly intriguing.

That's why I'm so disappointed in this. It could have been great. And I wish they saved this idea until they could get better funding, writers, directors, etc. If done right, this had the potential to be a movie I loved. Instead, I couldn't make it past the 26-minute mark.

(1 viewing, 1/14/2025)