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[Review] ‘The Horde’ is an Action-Horror Guilty Pleasure
The difference between most action and horror films is just a matter of perspective. Predator would have been downright terrifying if the lead actor was just a random schmoe and not Arnold Schwarzenegger, and James Cameron’s Aliens would have been just as scary as the original had Ripley not evolved into a badass extraterrestrial killer. This muddling of genres is responsible for quite a few cinematic masterpieces, which is why Jared Cohn’s The Horde looked so promising, despite the cannibal hillbilly shtick that we’ve seen so many times before.
The Horde stars Paul Logan as Crenshaw, an ex-navy seal accompanying his photography teacher girlfriend Selina Duboix, played by Tiffany Brouwer, on a camping trip with her students. The seemingly innocent excursion soon becomes a bloodbath, however, as the group is attacked by the titular horde of deformed natives. As the others are captured, Crenshaw’s resourcefulness and military training becomes their only hope of getting out of these woods alive.
An action story within a Wrong Turn/The Hills Have Eyes scenario is admittedly an interesting premise, and while the film does play around with certain tropes and clichés, we’ve seen a lot of this before. It is undoubtedly a blast to watch Crenshaw beat up mutant rednecks, but Cohn doesn’t exactly add anything to either the action or horror formulas. The antagonists are suitably repugnant, and the main characters are developed just enough that you feel sorry for them, but there’s been so many similar stories like this that much of the tension falls flat.
Logan’s Rambo-esque action scenes are delightfully cheesy while still feeling brutal, though the slightly obnoxious soundtrack sometimes nudges these moments into self-parody. In a cathartic sense, it is very satisfying to see rapist monsters get what they deserve, despite these shortcomings. A few kills and one-liners do feel out of place due to the film’s unpredictable tone, as Cohn attempts to balance 80’s style violence with a few genuinely unsettling moments of physical and psychological torture. On their own, these moments work fantastically, but as a whole, the film ends up feeling disjointed, as if Crenshaw’s struggle to save his bride-to-be and the student’s suffering are two completely different films. Bill Moseley also has a minor role as a bartender, but he doesn’t get as much screentime as he should, which is a shame.
It’s hard not to like a film so charmingly dedicated to making the most of its slightly absurd premise. The Horde may feel derivative because of the copious amounts of similar films that have been produced in the past (Wrong Turn 2: Dead End also happened to have a military character hell-bent on destroying the nefarious mutants, as did other films), but it’s obvious that the cast and crew had a blast making this movie. That actually makes up for much of the film’s faults, but doesn’t quite put it on the same level as some previous mutant cannibal movies. As it stands, The Horde is a fun ride and an acceptably cheesy guilty pleasure.
The Horde comes out on most VOD platforms in the US and Canada on May 6th!
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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]
Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.
Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.
Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.
And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.
While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.
Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.
Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!
Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.
Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.
Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!
More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.
So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.
If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.
Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.
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