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Overall Rating : 6/10
Directed By : Anthony C. Ferrante
Billy Aaron Brown (Jeepers Creepers II)
Rebecca Mozo
Richard Moll (Nightmare Man)
Arianne Fraser
Supplied By : First Look Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : June. 11, 2008
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| PLOT Seven college kids take a shortcut on their way to a party and unfortunately end up in Wormwood – a “lost” town in the middle of nowhere. They find something strange and sinister happening there- bones and weird decorations line Main Street. The cause: local Wormwood legend says on All Hallows Eve one hundred years ago, a crazed man tortured the youngsters in town and then cut off their heads. In retaliation, the townspeople killed him by cutting off his head. Seeking revenge every seven years, he returns and takes seven heads from children in the town. Now the seven visitors find themselves hunted one by one as the Headless Horseman claims his due. Each will do whatever it takes to survive. | ||||
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| THE REVIEW In HEADLESS HORSEMAN, we join a group of 7 young friends on their way to a Halloween party. On their way there, in between many stops, such as bathroom breaks, they find themselves running late for the bash. With almost 2 hours left until they arrive, the group decides to take a shortcut on a backroad in the woods. Taking the shortcut would prove to be a mistake because up ahead they run over an unseen bear trap that flattens their tire, making it impossible for them to go anywhere. Moments after the accident, arriving in a truck is a young southern Belle named Candy who tells the stranded friends that her father is a mechanic and that he can possibly fix their van. Candy escorts the group into her hometown of Wormwood, a quiet town that is almost a ghost town in appearance. The town is quiet but the town's anticipation of the upcoming holiday is apparent, as carved pumpkins can be seen at every turn - it is then that Csndy hints that everyone in the town is eagerly awaiting the awakening of The "Headless Horseman", a dark figure that Candy says, has stalked the town of Wormwood for years. The majority of the group brush off the whole Headless Horseman thing off after Candy goes into detail about the legend of the Horseman, a legend that states that the Horseman was once a man named Calvin Montgomery whom once terrorized Wormwood beheading the younger townspeople in a ritualistic manner. To get revenge on Montgomery, the scorned locals hung the crazed man in the middle of the town my his neck, and he remained there until the rope eventually beheaded him. Every 7 years, Calvin Montgomery, now known as the "Headless Horseman", or simple "Headless" returns to Wormwood with only one goal in mind, to collect seven more heads that he would send deep into the pit of hell in exchange for his own self-strength. What the non-believing group of friends are not aware is that they have arrived in the town right on the 7 year Anniversary, and soon the 7 of them would find that they possess the 7 heads that the legend is seeking. As the Horseman begins to behead them one by one, he gets stronger with each kill. With dangerous force getting more powerful, the remaining few must fight until they find a way to destroy the real life legend for good. First off, I have reviewed a lot of films that have aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, and if you've read the majority of them, then you'd probably notice that for the most part, i'm usually not a fan of them. But then again, that's not to say that all of the Sci-Fi Channel's films are awful, as there are immediate exceptions(ABOMINABLE comes to mind)....well to my surprise, i'd have to say that HEADLESS HORSEMAN is one of those exceptions. Yes, no matter what you may have read on IMDb, or anywhere else for that matter, in my opinion, I thought this film was actually pretty good! HEADLESS HORSEMAN, was obviously shot on s mediocre budget and it's plot basically borrows from THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES and SLEEPY HOLLOW combined, but it does a good job of making it not so obvious as most direct to DVD efforts do that draw inspiration from the "big boys". It does this by explaining it's subject matter of the Headless Horseman in a way that doesn't sound idiotic or made up, it actually takes time to cement the story that the film relies on. I have seen so many independent films that are more intersted in just blood and gore, so much so, that the filmmakers leave many things that don't make sense, and many loose ends intact in the film which results in a big mess....but oh yeah, you better believe they have lots of cool gore. Even if the facts laid out in HEADLESS HORSEMAN about mythological creatures may not all be true, at least they did a good job of making it sound as if they were. What we have here is nothing more than SLEEPY HOLLOW placed in a southern setting that is reminiscent of Pleasant Valley in Tim Sullivan's 2001 MANIACS, but somehow the filmmakers found a way to keep everything fun. The point is that I wasn't sitting there trying to analyze each and every performance or mishap in the film, I put my brain at ease and just had fun with it as it played out, anticipating how the legend would be handled in the film, and as much as I wanted to dismiss this one right out of the gate, I just couldn't deny that the film isn't half bad. As I have said already, HEADLESS HORSEMAN isn't exactly the ignorant film you'd probably expect to receive here, as you do sense that a little thinking actually went into the making of this Halloween creeper. Helming the directing duties here, is Anthony C. Ferrante, in this, his second feature film. His first feature was the ultra impressive BOO!, a film that truly surprised a lot of people, myself included. BOO!, was yet another film I didn't expect to like, but I admit that I have since watched it a more than a couple of times around the Halloween season...it was a project that likely had a smaller budget than HORSEMAN, but Director Ferrante managed to create a true atmospheric feel for the film just on his careful direction alone. Here, while probably not as atmospheric as BOO! was, Ferrante, still does a remarkable job in directing this film in a way that is controlled and not so flashy. This time with the slightly bigger production and Sci-Fi Channel exposure(whether he knew beforehand that it would air or the channel, I don't know), he could've jumped too far ahead of himself, trying new approaches and flashy camera tricks, but he opted to direct it in the slick manner that made BOO! an unexpected hit with independent Horror fans - he is definitely a Director to watch out for. I have said this word a few times already in this review, but the first word that comes to mind when trying to describe this film is "fun", because that's what HEADLESS HORSEMAN is - sure the acting isn't the greatest of things, and sure it's plot consists of a mash up of a few scenarios that are familiar ground to horror fans, but it is actually a well thought out Horror film that doesn't try to outdo itself. |
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| GORE
METER 5/10 Severed fingers, gunshot wounds and lots of severed heads/beheadings. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 6/10 One of my favorite composers, Alan Howarth(of HALLOWEEN sequel fame), was in charge of the films score. From HALLOWEEN 2-6, Howarth has always impressed me, and this film is no different. Howarth gives life to scenes that would otherwise would be bland without his score backing it - I though the film's pace and score went along her as the score accompanied the film smoothly and fluidly. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM When I received this DVD in the mail from First Look Pictures, the first thing I noticed was the big sticker on it's package that boldly exclaims proudly "as seen of the Sci-Fi Channel!" At first I thought "what are they doing? Setting up their own failure before a viewer even sees the film!?" Honestly, I thought i'd absolutely hate it, but it turns out that it was a lot more enjoyable than I expected it to be. I initially was going to give this one a 5.5/10 but I find myself giving this one a little bit more, as I see this film as one that someone is likely to watch more than once, especially around the Halloween holiday. |
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