Two low budget horror films

There are two types of horror film. The first are those that are films for everyone which just happen to be horror films: The Exorcist, The Others, The Shining, and many other not called "The Something". The second are films for horror audiences which will hold little interest to general filmwatchers without a specific horror bent.

 

Both these films are in that second category. They are horror films for fans of horror films. And, as such, both have much to recommend them. They are both also flawed in many ways, and both are low-budget affairs, but that doesn't actually detract much from the fun. If you like the genre you will probably enjoy both these entries. They may not change the world but they provide some well-engineered bloody entertainment.

 

HOSTS (2020)

Directors: Adam Leader, Richard Oakes

Starring: Neal Ward, Nadia Lamin, Frank Jakeman

Runtime 89 min

 

We start on a train. The lone occupant disembarks and walks across a lock toward a field. We see the field - a strange man with a shotgun and a Santa suit is walking across it. They slowly approach each other...

 

Actually I missed something important. We start with ominous music. Very ominous. So by the time the guy from the train and the guy in the field meet we're expecting... Something Big.

 

But then the music stops and they start bantering. They're actually old mates getting ready for Christmas dinner together, one of them hunting pheasant for the feast. (A little late, I'd suggest - you're going to need to hang those birds...)

 

It's a striking start and flags that the filmmakers have a solid grasp of mood and image. It bodes well. And the spooky music and misdirection are a sign of things to come. The tension ramps up from about ten minutes in and doesn't stop after that.

 

With mysterious lights reported on the news, the seven diners - a likeable bunch given deft character development - assemble for dinner, unaware that the two visitors have already been possessed by said lights.

 

Needless to say dinner is a bit of a write off as the guests proceed to do horrible things to the family. It's a slightly unusual mix of possession and home invasion action as family secrets are spilled along with a large amount of blood, and more possessing and unpleasantness occurs.

 

But for all that, and all the oppressive atmosphere generated, this is actually a bit slight, not much is explained or revealed and it looks like the most interesting bits were the opening and what might be about to happen just after the film ends. A fine ride to an anticlimactic destination.  

 

THE DEAD ONES (2019)

Director: Jeremy Kasten

Starring: Sarah Rose Harper, Brandon Thane Wilson, Katie Foster, Torey Garza

Runtime: 73 min

 

The Dead Ones comes with a backstory: it was actually filmed in 2009 but because of the subject matter and the sensitivity of people to school shootings it was impossible to raise completion funding or find distribution. It has now done that but director Kasten in the meantime apparently quit filmmaking for a life of farming. So this is his belated swansong, and pretty striking it is too.

 

It opens with four kids arriving to clean up a deserted vandalised high school under headmistress supervision. But it's the middle of the night and the whole idea doesn't seem even vaguely convincing. And the school looks like a riot has taken place or worse.

 

It's so off-kilter that seasoned horror watchers will immediately assume that the schoolkids are all dead and in some sort of lesson-learning limbo. But that doesn't really explain the four menacing masked figures who show up with trenchcoats, chains, guns and bombs.

 

Except that it actually does. 

 

The "they were dead all along" horror trope is so worn out by now that I run screaming from such films (and not in a good way) but this variation of the theme had me pretty impressed, and assumes that you recognise the set-up. It has a dream-like, or nightmare-like mood and keeps twisting and turning within its premise, keeping the small reveals coming even if we all know the broad strokes.

 

And, dare I say it, I think they actually approach the school shooting subject with something resembling complexity and even nuance.

 

And, of course, it's only 73 minutes long - perhaps the money wasn't there for more footage - and doesn't outstay its welcome. For a short sharp shock you could do a lot worse, even if the narrative is familiar. It's a very creditable final film from Kasten (who was previously responsible for The Theatre Bizarre, Thirst, and the The Wizard of Gore remake). We wish him well in his new life...