Slew Hampshire

Review by Golden State Haunts and Events

In American Backwoods, four months after one of the most brutal slaughters happened in American history, four friends, Kid (Jeremy Isabella), Dude-Guy (Tyler Rice), Buddy (Shawn Thomas) and Bro (Dayo Okeniyi – The Hunger Games and Terminator: Genisys) travel from New Hampshire to the Canadian border to visit a private strip club in a rite of passage after a party they were to attend gets raided. They never make it to their destination after their car spins out and Officer Girth (Matt Hish) deems it unsafe to continue. The four friends are then taken captive and what ensues is a violent film filled with gore and violent scenes of rape.

With everything going on the movie is somewhat hard to follow so viewers must pay attention to all the subtleties and undertones. Director/writer Flood Reed has created an ultriovelent film that covers several topics spanning from mythology and horror to comedy. He even has a few scenes in the film. The scenes of gore seem more high budget using practical effects. Once the movie kicks into high gear it may offend and repulse but it offers a little for everyone. The only thing we didn't like was the complexity of the movie as we like our horror films to flow more smoothly and not have to try to peel back confusing layers.

So let me start by saying that if you look at the breakdown of the high rating, over half gave it an eight, nine or ten, which it obviously is not. And, obviously, those artificially high numbers are from people who are most likely associated with the production. About the production- bad camera work, bad lighting (night scenes are barely discernible). No drama builds in this movie, poorly acted (for the most part), what little pre-violence plot setup there is drags on forever. I stopped watching (even after it got a tad interesting) because the low production values, etc just made it too painful to watch. Don't waste your time

I saw Slew Hampshire at its premiere on June 16th in New Hampshire. I felt the buzz when I walked in. Many rabid fans had been anticipating its release. Great vibe going on even before the lights dropped. I'm generally not a fan of horror movies. They usually don't scare me or move me. Takes a real good one with a great story to grab me. I normally remain unemotionally detached on my side of the screen.

That being said, this sick journey into a night gone wrong was one hell of an enjoyable trip. I totally got sucked in. Not too far into the film, I shared the characters' confusion, wanting to figure out what the hell was going on. With every reveal, I wished I hadn't been so curious. Be careful what you wish for. Still, the more twisted it got the more I wanted to know "Why? How? WTF?" The gory effects are fantastic. Both the cinematography and soundtrack were great. Mostly heavy and dark; yet the pretty backdrops and delicate music seemed much more eerie than the darkness that it juxtaposed. The calm before the terror. Not giving it a 10 because I didn't get enough resolution in the end. I get it. Leave it hanging. Not every picture gets a perfect frame. Still, there is WAY more depth to these savage characters, their history, what motivates them... Yes, my imagination *could* fill in a lot, but I need some back story!!

Sequel maybe? Prequel??

Review-American Backwoods has the honor of being the first film I have ever witnessed that made me feel like I was using drugs when I was not. One thing for sure, director Floor Reed is a much messed up individual but my god is he very creative and genius. This film has some of the most insane dialogue I have heard in a horror film; let me rephrase that, in any film this year. There is a scene in the film when the radio is playing a "sexy song", and that song is so absurd that you feel obligated to join in the catchy feel of it. You would never guess from the opening sequence this is a low budget film. Mixing a genre like horror with comical elements is always a hard pill for most horror fans to swallow. The results and reactions are usually mixed at best. I feel this film that film in the early stages had a direction, but as the film was filming that direction went out the window in favor of making the viewer guess where the film is heading.

This film revolves around the simplest premise, the premise of four college students making their way to a strip club. We learn as this film starts going, that the group has a past together. Bro it seems was injured one time when they were on snowmobiles. There is really not much in terms of substance and character development when we see the college guys interact, but this is horror and we sort of expect it. The film finds itself when it comes to both the horror element and also the humor element. What shocked me the most was as bloody and disgusting this film gets, you always feel like they are winking at you. Well our college boys find a bunch of redneck hillbilly types who seem to enjoy hunting for human beings. Well, they also practice the lost arts of raping and killing as well. As we think the hillbillies and being raped could be our worst hope in this side of the world, there is something out there as well that seems to be a bigger threat.

The one word that stuck out to me the most in this film was "unique". This film really does not mind taking gambles and hoping people can follow. This film is not afraid to test boundaries. This film gives you plenty of sick and disturbing moments that fans watch a film like this for. The pacing in this film was a small issue I had, it seemed that as the hour mark hit, the film lost some of its humor flare and felt a little too similar to other films like a Chainsaw Massacre or a Wrong Turn. I really liked the last ten minutes of this film, and felt that it made a good statement about what we just witnessed. This film to me was a great welcome to a director I feel has his head in the right place, and his heart firmly in this genre. This is a horror film that can only be pulled off by a true fan of the genre. While this film is far from perfect, it does deliver in good doses what we watch these little films for. With any justice, this film will get some good word of mouth from both buyers and critics. Slew Hampshire is a odd place but boy was it fun to visit.

This is one of those movies that thinks it's winking at you and being playful with the genre, sort of the way Scream did. But it's strictly amateur hour, so badly acted and written that the effort just ends up being embarrassing.

Let me put it this way. It's one of those movies that distorts the picture and plays ominous music all the time (and I do mean ALL the time) so as to telegraph to you that something scary is happening, when nothing scary is happening.

It's not a matter of it being low budget, as they actually seem to have had some money. (And some of the scariest movies are super-low budget.) It's not a lack of money, it's a lack of the basic ability to frighten or otherwise entertain.