Scare Campaign

I did enjoy the previous movie from the brothers. While it never achieved what Tucker & Dale did (no pun intended), it was a fun little movie. Though it would depend on your definition of fun I reckon. Something that can be also said about this movie right here. It is also very bloody and does not pull any punches.

But it is unfortunately very predictable. I can't imagine anyone being really surprised by the twists thrown here. Red herrings and all included, you'll see them coming. It's still set up nice and it's enjoyable enough, if you don't have problems with the amount of gore this includes and the obvious scare tactics it uses ...

Ladies and gentleman if there was any concerns beforehand surrounding the current state of Australian horror films, then let the Cairnes Brothers Scare Campaign put any of those lingering doubts to bed as this low budget yet often ingenuous little horror treat showcases that the genre is still alive and well in our fair shores.

On the back of fellow shoestring budget films like Wrymwood and Observance and the Cairnes Brothers previous film (which sadly got lost in a huge collection of illegal downloads) 100 Bloody Acres, Scare Campaign may not be a faultless experience but it's a downright fun one and one I can see making its way to Hollywood in the form of a remake sometime in the near future.

Having a blast with their pitch black comedy elements and skewering of modern day audiences thirst for bigger and better and in the case of this particular narrative, more bloody and ruthless, the Cairnes Brothers ramp up the gore-o-meter to 11 as bodies are dismembered, sliced and diced and generally dispatched in all manner of gruesome and it must be said inventive ways as our crew of reality TV filmmakers and actors realise they've bitten off more than they can chew.

Utilising the ready-made set at their disposal in the form of an old mental hospital near the boundary line of the Victorian and New South Wales borders, the Cairnes Brothers have a ball putting their willing cast lead by Meegan Warner's actress Emma and her director/on-off boyfriend Marcus played by Ian Meadow's into a terrifying situation that more than once takes turns into the depraved and unpredictable and while the brothers script work undoubtedly needs polish, their gleeful direction clearly showcases horror fans working on a project that is passionate to them as genre aficionados.

Showing inventiveness and a wittiness not often found in films of this ilk (plus a mastery of claret spilling), Scare Campaign is a quick-fire horror experience that will leave many horror hounds thoroughly happy with what the Cairnes Brothers have served up and on the back of two promising ventures into the horror genre from the brothers now in the bag there's reason to get excited on where the duo will head to next.

3 ½ rubber guns out of 5

Horror prank show hits upon means to "up the ante" to keep their show alive. Surprise! More is waiting for them then expected. Ending is open, but in a good way as the horror continues.

"Scare Campaign" is a new Slasher flick from Directors (& brothers) Colin and Cameron Cairnes. Their first film "100 Bloody Acres" was a great horror/comedy that got slightly over shadowed by "Tucker & Dale Vs Evil" due to having a similar tone/storyline. I really enjoyed their first film a lot so I was excited to see what else they had to offer, and "Scare Campaign" definitely did not disappoint.

So the storyline follows the cast and crew of a TV show called Scare Campaign (a prank show that aims to scare the hell out of it's stooge), very similar to the real life TV show Scare Tactics, they are in their fifth season and the show has gotten a bit stale so they are asked to step up their game. So the creator of the show hatches a plan to boost ratings and things don't exactly go as planned. I liked the storyline, it's kind of simple and I saw most of the twists coming from a mile away, but it's a solid backdrop for a slasher movie and kept me interested as I sat their waiting for the killing to start.

Once things get going (and they do fairly quickly) the whole thing turns into a very entertaining blood bath, just about all the kills were done really well and the gore level was pretty high. For a lower budget flick the cast, effects, etc were all very impressive. Really from start to finish "Scare Campaign" had me entertained and interested to see what would happen next. The ending could have been better though, was kind of hoping they would go another way with it but it didn't really take too much away from the film.

If you are a fan of gory slasher movies that don't take themselves too seriously then you will most likely enjoy this film, one of the better slasher flicks to come in recently.

7.5/10

Sometimes when a film goes a little overboard on trying to be hard to figure out it loses direction so much it messes up the whole thing. That's sort of what I see happening here. A prank on a prank show and a little dose of real kinda made this one come out just about even on the score card.