In 1974, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre rocked the film world with its raw depiction of violence and depravity in the desolate stretches of the American landscape. For decades, horror filmmakers have aimed to capture that same lightning in a bottle with a varied degree of success. The pursuit of gritty slasher infamy isn’t exclusive to America, though, as our friendly neighbors to the north also have a trick or two up their sleeves. Canadian filmmaker, Adrian Langley’s new film, Butchers is a dark and gritty horror film that treads familiar territory, but does so gracefully.
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Butchers has the kind of set-up you’ve heard many times. A pair of couples traveling into a secluded area experience car trouble and find themselves prey to a group of demented local predators. This time, the aggressors are a pair of backwoods brothers, Owen (Simon Phillips) and Oswald (Michael Swatton), who operate, stop me if you’ve heard this before…a gas station. Complete with many of the tropes you expect from a movie with this type of plot, Butchers is occasionally predictable, but also competently crafted.
The film is visually appealing. The cinematography is terrific, the sets and props are on point, and its editing is well done. Particularly impressive are the settings and props. Old farming equipment, rusted tools, dilapidated barns, rusted hooks and shackles, Butchers succeeds in pulling viewers into it’s twisted world. The visual aesthetic of the movie is reminiscent of the rash of reboot properties that Platinum Dunes produced in the 2000s. As maligned as some of those films are in the horror community, it’s impossible to deny the unique look and effectiveness of their “gritty” approach to visual story-telling.
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Butchers isn’t going to win any awards for its originality. It’s fairly contrived and recycles many elements that you’ve seen time and again in films of this nature. That said, as an example of the backwoods breakdown horror film, it is well handled. Fans of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Wolf Creek, The Hills Have Eyes, or the Wrong Turn series will likely find something to enjoy about Butchers. In addition to the film being well-shot, acted, and edited, it also has a wildly cool end reveal, and the FX are rather gruesome. If you’re in the mood for something comfortably familiar, bleakly grim, and strikingly slick, look no further.
Butchers will be available on DVD from March 8th and on Digital from February 22nd.
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