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Overall Rating : 7.5/10
Directed By : The Butcher Brothers
Cory Knauf (Sweet Insanity)
Samuel Child
Mackenzie Firgens (Sweet Insanity)
Brittany Daniel (Club Dread)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Mar. 16, 2007
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| PLOT The Hamiltons seem to be the picture-perfect American family. They are hardworking community members who give to their local charities, attend town hall meetings and are always respectful of their neighbors – except for the fact that they usually end up killing them. |
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| THE REVIEW The Hamiltons are an everyday family as it seems, they live in a small suburban town, and have their problems just like everyone else. But when both of the parents in the family die(first the mother and then the father) they suddenly have to get by on their own with the oldest child David in charge. Francis, the youngest of the siblings has been working on a project for school, and and instead of writing a report about his family, he decides to document them in a video he is shooting but it turns out that there may not be much he wants to keep. Since David has picked up all of the responsibilities around the house, he will be any means do anything to provide for his family - even if that means kidnapping women and butchering them up to feed on. Deep into the basement underneath the house is where they keep them chained up and their screams can be often heard in a muffle d sense. With all of his older siblings(who include twins Darlene and Wendell) seemingly psychotic and blood thirsty, Francis is sort of at the point where he feels alienated from the family and just wants to get away, and differ himself from them. Francis' siblings see him as the weak one in the bunch, but the fact of the matter is that young Francis is remorseful and compassionate, he wants no part of their actions - and this becomes apparent when he develops feelings for a young girl named Samantha whom is bound and gagged, fighting for her life in the basement. When I would see or hear something about the After Dark Horrorfest and the 8 initial films it consists of, THE HAMILTONS would be one of the few that seemed to get praised the most, leading me to wonder what it was about this film. At first glance I continued to wonder, as you can visually tell that it was shot on a lower budget, and I know that the general audiences aren't always THIS kind to low budget films - so what is it? Well it turns out that THE HAMILTONS is a surprisingly deep thriller, with real emotion and genuine insight into a chaotic lifestyle. The Hamiltons in fact are NOT an averagely normal family, they just pretend and think that they are, in reality they are a group of bred cannibalistic Serial Killers. Unlike most films that portray Serial Killers as crazed, over-the-top maniacs, The Butcher Brother's in their debut portray a killer as realistic as possible - let's face it, Ted Bundy didn't wear a hockey mask. Speaking of Bundy, the Hamilton family kind of reminds me of him, on the outside, the family seems quite picture-esque.... the kind of family you'd find modeling in magazines... but behind closed doors they are completely ville and sinister. People going into this movie whom see that the film is directed by a duo who call themselves 'The Butcher Brothers well probably expect to get a downright bloody bath, but what they get may surprise them. The Hamiltons is really not that gory as you'd believe it to be, although we may see a little blood here and there...most of the thrills are purely suggestive, and just for the fact that the family seems so "human" and 'real' above all else is probably the most distrurbing thing about this film. The basement in which david takes and hangs and shackles their latest victim to be killed at a later time is strangly creepy in a Tobe Hooper sort of way not to mention that they also keep something locked up in a small room in the corner,(whom later turns out to be one of their kin) in which they feed the human scraps to. Overall i'd have to say that THE HAMILTONS is one of the most brilliant exercises in independent cinema to come along in some time. It is a little bit Horror, a little more drama, a whole lot of psychology, and basically one big character study.....every character here is studied and studied well, in that we get to know them, get inside their heads - the filmmakers kept them at the line of believability at all times, without over exaggeration. The characters each have problems that viewers can relate to, but also some we don't understand - the end result is a seemingly true to life story(albeit a horrific one) with great portrayals by it's young cast to create a sense of ultra realism. |
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| GORE
METER 4/10 Not all that gory, in fact I rated it higher than it actually is due to the fact that after you see the film you believe you saw more gore than you actually ended up seeing. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 The score is very subtle from what I remember of it, and not relied on much, but it does serve it's purpose. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Before seeing this film, The Butcher Brothers will be a duo in which you have not heard of, but before long there is no doubt that their name will likely become a staple in the Horror genre. The Butchers have proven an amazing feet here on a limited budget, and in their debut tackled subjects such, as torture, cannibalism, and even incest, what will they think of next? But more importantly with a bigger budget imagine what they could do next.... I for one, can't wait to see more! The After Dark Horrorfest set (available individually, or as a boxed set) will be released on March 27, 2007 |
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