Genre:
Horror, Slasher
Distributor:
Imagine Entertainment
Rating: 15
DVD Release Date:
10th March 2014 (UK)
Director:
Brian C Weed
Cast:
Jim Tavaré, Rae Latt, Lexi Giovagnoli
Buy: Bloody Homecoming [DVD]
Bloody Homecoming, from first time feature director Brian C. Weed, is a strange kind of homage to classic slasher films, from its Halloween-inspired soundtrack to its creepy high school janitor, it wears its inspirations proudly but does little else. The film follows the lives of a group of students, each guilty for their involvement in a student’s death 3 years prior. As homecoming night looms, the anniversary of Billy Corbin’s murder, the students try their best to carry on whilst a masked killer butchers the group.
Though its heart is in the right place, a lot of stuff is crazy wrong with Bloody Homecoming. There’s a seemingly conscious engagement with slasher trope but it doesn’t lead anywhere. Spoof without comedy is pastiche, but pastiche without any comment or thrill is simply bad. As the film acts out a paint by numbers stalk-and-slash you’re left wondering when something cool will happen. Characters are killed in numerous anti-climactic death scenes whilst a lack of main character leaves the film directionless. Rather than pulling something postmodern out the bag and utilising that knowledge of slasher, the film executes an ending which, due to inconsequential characters and the inability to build tension, just kind of happens. Saying that, Rae Latt does do her best to carry the finale though the shortcomings in editing and script unfortunately halt her most enjoyable scenes.
Bloody Homecoming dances the line between home movie and straight to DVD entertainment, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Its flat performances and hilariously stupid dialogue almost give it a charming edge over other plainly bad films, but the total lack of tension and drama keep it well and truly bogged down. It’s not enough for the film to be awful and unintentionally hilarious. This is a great shame since there’s obviously a passion for horror at work somewhere in there, it just needs to be addressed in a more deserving way.
Hilarious dialogue, wooden acting, and zero tension leaves this ode to classic slasher films looking like a second-rate re-enactment of better films. Avoid this if you can.
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