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Overall Rating : 3/10
Directed By : Leigh Scott
Vaz Andreas (Shapeshifter)
Amanda Barton (King of the Lost World)
Tom Nagel (Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter's Cove)
Erica Roby (Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers)
Supplied By : The Asylum
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Apr. 6, 2006
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| PLOT The world's most brutal serial killer was born over 400 years ago. Sawney Bean and his family pillaged, slaughtered, and literally devoured thousands of victims. Even today, the inbred clan of cannibals hides in seaside caves feeding on the flesh of those who pass by. |
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| THE REVIEW Like last month's release WHEN A KILLER CALLS(which played off of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS), HILLSIDE CANNIBALS appears to be The Asylum's very own take on THE HILLS HAVE EYES, but instead it focuses on the story that inspired that film.... The Sawney Bean Clan. Now I am one of the few people out there that admits to not really liking the "HILLS" remake, I actually saw it as a film despite being hyped as original, not really all that original at all. In this film's case, HILLSIDE CANNIBALS had so much history and back-story that could have been used to build a rather interesting and detailed story, yet it fails to use any amount of insight. Instead of building the story, and telling us exactly whom these cannibals are, where they come from and why they do what they do, the action is thrown right at the viewer with no explanation. In my opinion I feel that it would have built more tension and fright amongst viewers if there had been facts thrown around about the inbreds to show us just how vicious they are. Another thing is that, just like the cannibals in the film, we never really get to meet the characters in an emotional sense, the filmmakers did throw in a little sub plot about the main male and female being together and it being their anniversary( sort of the the marriage angle in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake), but there is just not enough dialogue exchanged between our victims to make us very much care about them. We all know that this film didn't have the budget that the bigger movies had, but as with any Asylum pic, they manage to put together some "killer" makeup and special effects. I have to give it to them here, the effects look ultra violent and gory in the same, and if you check out the special features on the disc it will show you how. just about everything was achieved. As always Leigh Scott shows us his craft and just how good he is despite having a less than inspiring script to work with. Even though I may not particularly care for every film Scott directs, he still remains one of my most favorite indie filmmakers because of his almost Corman-esque approach. I can't comment too much on the film's acting, because for the most part, most of the veterans here were talking "caveman" and I can't really rate that. I did like seeing Chriss Anglin in is role, as his character was probably my favorite, no matter if his stay was brief or not. I always thought Tom Nagel was great in JOLLY ROGER, but in this film he is subjected to being the one that gets tortured the most(poor guy), unfortunately this one doesn't give him a big enough stage to show the side of him we saw in JOLLY ROGER. Another familiar face was Erica Roby, I really really like Erica, I thought she brought an innocent to her character is EXORCISM : THE POSSESSION OF GAIL BOWERS, that made that film a winner. Her Character in HILLSIDE CANNIBALS was one of a female cannibal with almost childlike tendencies, I really liked it, female viewers may call her character "cute" Overall, despite great directing and wonderful effects, I think plot wise Hillside Cannibals is nothing more than a lot of blood and guts, with no feeling nor purpose... |
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| GORE
METER 6/10- Great effects..... slit throats, severed faces and a cave full of human flesh, quite the works, too bad not much of a story follows it. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 I happen to like this score, I thought of it as being hard hitting, almost skull pounding......it really added to the violence of the film. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM My final thought is that if you are looking for a film with a story, this is not it, The Asylum takes yet another story with a lot to learn from and conveys it in a way where the viewer is again left with not even learning the basics, What is with these knockoffs anyway? What happened to the films like BLOODY BILL, ones that I liked Asylum? |
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