The Windmill Massacre

Reminding me heavily of Reeker (2005) this neat little horror is well made but sadly makes very little sense.

Telling the story of a number of people who get aboard a tour of Holland but become stranded and under attack from an unseen enemy who seems to know their darkest secrets.

The idea is quite clever, the execution is solid but where it fails is the execution and wide quantity of plot holes and unexplained events.

I wanted to like this and was certainly impressed with the quality but just couldn't get past certain head scratching moments.

Perfectly watchable stuff but it is the very definition of take your brain out entertainment.

The Good:

Decent kills

Well made

The Bad:

Plenty of plot holes

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

When hiring a nanny employees will not do an extensive background check

That kid will need SO much therapy

Windmills are cool - we all know this. So naturally when I saw there was a horror movie centered around a windmill, I was all in. When I saw that it wasn't another shitty found footage movie, I was even more intrigued. After watching it, I can honestly say it's one of the more enjoyable horror films I've seen recently (and there aren't a lot of those, let me tell you). It's a slasher flick basically with an interesting setting and some creative and gory kills, at least two of which genuinely took me by surprise and gave me a bit of a jump. The windmill backdrop itself is the movie's biggest plus although I was disappointed they didn't make better use of the location scenery. Most of the movie takes place on what appeared to me to be an obvious set. Had more of it taken place where they filmed the initial windmill stuff it would have been better, in my opinion. But I guess that would have made doing proper special effects more difficult on a low budget. As it is, there's nothing really 'wrong' with the set, just that I think it would've been more effective using more of the location shooting. Anyway, the cast is good. There's a guy who reminds me of Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles. There's never anything bad about that. As I said before, the kills are mostly creative, and some of the gross-out stuff is funny. It's definitely worth a look if, like me, you are tired of most of the horror output today, which seems to be found footage and knock-offs of horror classics like Exorcist and Poltergeist.

The rather blandly named, The Windmill Massacre, breaks the golden rule of a good slasher flick and pays the price.

Let me start by saying this is a film with definite potential. Its far from utterly bad. It employs a good cast of capable actors, a rather novel and fresh premise, plus some good horror elements. That said, it breaks the key rule of any good slasher flick, its not all that scary.

Th reason The Windmill Massacre is not overly scary lies in its scripting. After the first death, there's very little uncertainty as to who, how and when the next person, will die. Indeed, there is a "lead in", that tells you for the most part, whats about to happen to who, next.

The net result is a film robbed of the sudden death, "jump in your seat", surprise factor. That's what good slashers are really all about. Not the final dispatch but the dread and tension, leading up to that suddenly and violently realized moment, when the killer strikes.

Its a shame too, as this film looked promising. Even making a second film may not solve this issue, as the approach taken is more or less, "locked in". That is, its intrinsic to the legend built around the killer. As it stands then, a moderately entertaining horror film, that offers some entertainment value, but could have been so much more. Six out of ten from me.

My quick rating - 5,4/10. This flick seems to attempt to touch upon quite a few genres at once and does so somewhat successfully. The movie is about the struggle of being taken to hell by a grim reaper type character which is explained within the movie. Each character is being judged due to their sins of the past which unfold in a flashback type way. The story itself is played out quite well albeit completely full of holes. The supernatural aspect seems to come and go and never really solidifies itself. The acting is average, no complaints or applause. When they do head down the gore route, it is poured on well without being the focal point of the film. I found it interesting enough to hold my attention and although I could see a never ending amount of sequels possible (which the ending says, not me) I hope they leave it alone. An above average flick if even slightly which is fine.

If you want an Australian accent, cast an Australian. Not an English girl who's accent changes back to British every 2 seconds and sometimes sounds like she's from NZ?

It took away from the movie SO BADLY - I loved the premise and found it interesting but man, her accent really ruined it. That's coming from an Aussie who knows we don't sound like that 😂