One Night of Fear

I am a huge fan of slasher flicks, so I liked some aspects of this movie. The story was a simple, 80's style throwback slasher with the things that 80's horror fans crave, boobs and blood. There was some cool flashback scenes scattered throughout, which established enough backstory for the killer without overdoing it.

The acting was pretty good for the most part. Jimmy Dempster and Jessica Sonneborn both had some good chemistry with one another playing boyfriend and girlfriend, Rob and Katie. To be honest, I couldn't stand Suzi Lorraine's character Jaclyn until the second half when her chemistry with Sonneborn started to click. Russ Forga's park ranger Elmer wasn't terrible and gave some comic relief. Jason Sutton was somewhat convincing as the Killer, but in spots he seemed to lack intensity. If he had some more, it could have made him a more menacing tormentor to his potential victims.

The use of practical makeup effects was pretty good for the most part. One piece of makeup was lackluster and I giggled to myself whenever I saw it. A lot of the film was shot using the floating camera gag, following the characters around their environment. This helped to tell the story, but I think they may have overused it. The pacing had a good speed to it, but in some instances, the edit seemed choppy. There were some technical issues periodically, but not enough to hurt the entertainment value.

In the end, I would say it was a fun, bloody movie. The filmmakers did a good job with their limited production budget and I would like to see what they could do with a bigger budget next time out. I would recommend this one to any horror fan, especially if you are into slasher flicks.

The Plot: The story is inspired by true stories from The Ocala National Forest of how multiple Campers and Hikers Have vanished without a trace.

What a miserable excuse for a motion picture. Firstly, this is not really a slasher movie, as some reviewers said. It's more of a capture/torture flick with really unattractive overweight women as the victims.

The acting is horrendous. It's just people screaming at each other and running. Or running and screaming. So absurdly silly.

The direction too is just juvenile. And the music is the worst. It doesn't really fit the action.

Avoid at all costs.

I give this a good rating because I take it for what it is. Its a small, indie film in the horror/slasher genre. For what it was, I really enjoyed it. Jessica Sonneborn is one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. She is so beautiful and talented, I'm not sure why we haven't seen her on the big screen yet.

The story moved along well, the gore and effects were well done and the photography was also well done for being low budget. The acting over all was decent and no horror actress can be tortured or killed any better than Mel Heflin. I've never seen an actress put her heart and soul into death scenes the way she does and it shows each time.

So if you're expecting a new Halloween or Texas Chainsaw sized film, you probably won't care for this. If you enjoy indie horror and like seeing a group of actors having fun while making something really gory and crazy, then this is up your alley.