A weird mix for you this time around. We've got an updated version of Ultraman with "Shin Ultraman," along with another old Godzilla film, "Godzilla vs Megalon." We meet up with "Jack Brooks, Monster Slayer," and then learn about cryptid hunters with "Kryptik" before meeting a weird family in "Bloody Axe Wound."
Check out our selection of short horror biographies: https://www.hourlongpress.com/
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Mainstream Films:
2024 Kryptik
Directed by Kourtney Roy
Written by Paul Bromley
Stars Chloe Pirrie, Jeff Gladstone, Jason Deline
Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
What seems to start out as a simple cryptid-in-the-woods story that steadily gets more complicated as a curious woman, who seems to have amnesia, retraces the steps of a missing cryptid hunter. Full of strange and interesting characters and things that make you wonder what's going on, it's a good one that keeps you involved right to the end with an ambiguous wrap up. We both liked it, but it might not be for everyone.
Spoilery Synopsis
A woman drives through the forest to a very isolated place. She eventually arrives with a group -- the women's walking club on Krypto Peak. Kay has joined the group, hoping to make some friends, but she sits alone and ignores everyone else. The tour guide tells them about Barb Valentine, a local cryptozoologist who went missing a while back. He explains what cryptids are. She was here for the Sooka, a tall, hairy creature, something like Bigfoot with a mole face.
Kay soon wanders off alone and encounters the creature, even getting it on video. She runs to the nearest campground as the tour group wonders what happened to her. She sneaks back among the group and pretends that she was with them all along. She's... odd. When she gets back to her car, she checks her driver's license and sees that it says, "Kay Hall." She acts surprised.
She goes home and goes through the whole house, looking to see if she's alone. In the morning, she goes through all her clothes and continues to explore the place. She eventually looks through her video camera at the footage but gets interrupted by the phone. It's Don, her boss, who wants her to come in this afternoon. She gets there but decides not to stay when she finds out she works in a vet office.
At home again, she starts researching Barb Valentine, and the photo shown is... her. Suddenly, someone breaks into her house; she runs to the car and drives away. She wakes up at 3:15 the next day parked out in the woods, and her legs are covered in mud. She drives to Blue Cliff, the last known place where Barb was supposed to have visited as she listens to a podcast about Sooka in the car.
Kay talks to Sally, the woman who runs the motel, about Barb. "Oh yes! The monster hunter! It's terrible that all the people are going missing around here. It's like the forest swallows them up." That night, she watches a video of Barb's last interview, and Barb looks exactly like her.
In the morning, Sally isn't around. Kay drives on to the next location that Barb was supposed to have visited and goes into the woods. She soon runs into a hairy monster... no, it's Starla, a hunter in a camo outfit. Kay goes home with the strange woman, who takes her home and pulls out a scrapbook about Sooka. Starla's daughter, Diane, was taken by the Sooka ten years ago. Kay shows Starla her video and talks about forgetting who she is. Then Kay passes out.
When she wakes up, Kay is alone, and her feet are dirty. But she does run into another woman who gives her directions and suddenly vanishes. She sees a "Missing" poster for Diane later, and it's the woman from the woods.
Kay watches videos about Morgan, Barb's husband, who is desperately trying to find her. She goes to a bar and talks to a former magician who's just a full-time drunk now. The drunk gives her another lead on the Sooka. Kay starts seeing things; maybe she's the monster after all.
She drives to the next place and talks to Johnette, who is supposed to have seen the creature. Inside, she sees a book that Barb wrote, and it's got a business card inside. Johnette thinks she looks like one of those monster hunters who used to come around. The Sooka tried to break into her trailer a while back, and she describes the creature.
Johnette invites her to the big trailer park party tonight. An old man there talks about the Sooka travelling through portals to get around. Another woman there talks about sleepwalking and waking up covered in mud. Sasha recognizes who she really is and asks what happened. "People like us got to stick together." She gets really high and goes off with Caleb, Johnette's boyfriend, and they do naughty, possibly inhuman, things in the woods.
Kay/Barb walks home to Morgan, who is shocked to see her. She stinks, so he cleans her up and wonders why she doesn't speak much. He seems a little off as well, both weird and creepy. Morgan dresses her up and gets her to work in the yard doing gardening.
She eventually starts to talk, and it's clear that she ran away from him because he was so controlling and mean and pretty strange. He talks about the fantasy stuff causing her last "episode," and we're not quite sure who to believe. Later, he tries to have sex with her, and they both get really weird.
Barb goes into her desk and pulls out a bunch of news articles about Kay Hall, who has gone missing. She and Morgan argue again, and this time, she hits him with her car before finishing him off. She drives off, leaving him to die on the floor.
She drives back to her "Kay" house and goes inside. She breaks in through a window, and we hear past-Kay downstairs running away and driving off. She gets back in the car and drives off to the hiking trail where the film began. She goes off-trail, just like before, and leaves her hoodie and flowers right where we saw them earlier.
Then she sees a bright light in the woods...
Brian's Commentary
Most of the film is one of those "what is going on" plots. It's well acted, looks good, doesn't get boring at any point, and has lots of interesting characters.
So what was going on? There was something to do with time portals, that much is clear. We repeatedly get monstrous, slimy flashbacks, especially when anything approaches being a sex scene.
I have no idea. It was entertaining and weird, but I'm not gonna pretend to understand this one. Do I recommend it? Depends on if you need answers or not.
Kevin's Commentary
I'm going to go on the side of liking it. Things weren't super clear, and it was very strange, but it kept me engrossed throughout. I'd give it a thumbs up.
2007 Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Directed by Jon Knautz
Written by Jon Knautz, Trevor Matthews, Patrick White
Stars Robert Englund, Trevor Matthews, Daniel Kash
Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
Trailer:
Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3H1KTEp
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The script is a little on the predictable side as things unfold, but it's well written and the two leads do a fine job, as well as the supporting cast. All the effects are practical without CGI, which gives it a throwback vibe at times. With a nice blend of horror with some humor. We liked it quite a bit.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a battle in the jungle, with a bunch of natives fighting a crazy one-eyed lizard man. There's over the top panic in the village. Inside the tent, we don't see the face of a monster slayer who prepares for battle. Credits roll.
We cut to young Jack, who was always in trouble for his aggressive behavior. He had some crazy anger issues. Before that, he was a normal kid who went camping with his family-- until a monster ate them all. Today, he's in therapy with Counselor Silverstein. Jack is... messed up.
Jack goes to night school, where Professor Crowley teaches Chemistry. The old teacher explains sodium to the class and makes a little explosion. Jack and Eve are a couple, but she's also into another guy in the class. Jack's a plumber, and Crowley wants some help with his pipes later.
Later, Jack goes to the professor's messy old house to work on the pipes. The house has some history, and Crowley bought it cheap. Jack gets to work, and he's really bad at his job, which leads to a Hell portal opening up in the backyard. Later still, smoke comes out of the Hell Portal and possesses Professor Crowley, whose eyes turn black.
The next day, Jack talks to Silverstein about Eve. Jack needs to find some way to relax. Crowley wakes up outside and finds that he's been digging. He digs more and uncovers a big wooden crate that he takes inside. The box contains a skeleton and a heart that still beats. Crowley then eats the heart, which is never a good thing.
At the hardware store, Jack talks to old Howard, who orders a part to fix Crowley's pipes. He knows about that house, "The place is cursed." He's got a whole story about his uncle Emmet, who used to live in that house. He bought the black heart of a demon, but it took over Emmet, who started acting strangely. This all culminated in young Howard shooting Emmet and burying him in the backyard.
That evening, everyone goes to Chemistry class, and Crowley comes in, filthy, belching, and not at all himself. He dismisses class and goes home. Crowley soon finds that he's growing tentacles and cuts one off, which is messy. Then he eats his dog.
In class the next night, Crowley is a lot worse. He suddenly falls down and sprouts many long tentacles which chase the students down the corridors. The professor then turns into a big rubbery puppet and starts converting the students into zombie-minions.
Jack, Eve, and another girl hide in one of the classrooms. One of the demons comes in and eats the other girl. It's very quickly down to Jack and Eve against the monsters. They get to the car and away, but then Jack decides to dump obnoxious Eve and go back to fight.
Jack goes inside, armed only with a pipe. After a quick battle, he kills two former students and moves on to the big monster, who is still converting people. Eventually, Jack uses the sodium to blow up the monster, but of course, it's still not dead. He finishes the job and rescues some survivors, and gets a kiss from a woman he's attracted to.
Jack learns that he felt better after killing monsters, and then he decided to go after the one who killed his parents. After that, he travelled around the world killing monsters everywhere.
We flash back to the opening scene of the jungle and lizard monster. That actually takes place after the main events of the movie. Jack's ready to fight now...
Brian's Commentary
There's no CGI at all in the film, all the effects are practical. The individual humanoid monsters are all really well done, but the big Professor monster was just ridiculous.
It's predictable, but well done. It's not quite a comedy, but it's got lots of silly bits. It's pretty good.
Kevin's Commentary
I thought this had a good balance of humor and horror, and I really liked the job the two leads did. I'd seen this previously right after it came out, and I recently purchased it on blu-ray - so that's a testimonial to how much I like it.
1973 Godzilla vs Megalon
Directed by Jun Fukuda, Yoshimitsu Banno, Ishiro Honda
Written by Jun Fukuda, Tekashi Kimura, Shin'ichi Sekizawa
Stars Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi
Run Time: 1 Hour, 18 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one has an interesting start, with a futuristic 1970s sort of world. The beginning is the most entertaining part, with surface people versus an undersea empire. This time around, Godzilla has an ally in a humanoid robot Jet Jaguar that can enlarge to his size. Once the big creature battles start, there is quite a bit of reused model footage we've seen before, and the guys in rubber suits fight to the point of tedium that goes on too long. We didn't enjoy this one as much as some of the others.
Spoilery Synopsis
A narrator talks about an underground nuclear test that went very badly. They felt the impact as far away as Monster Island, and we see the monsters there upset at the yellow smoke. Credits roll.
We cut to a child riding a paddleboat in a lake. Goro is on the shore taking pictures of Rokuro, his little brother, and hanging out with friend Hiroshi. There's a sudden earthquake, and the lake starts smoking and bubbling. Goro shoots a rope out and pulls the little boy back in before it's too late. The three make it to safety just as a whirlpool swallows the paddleboat.
Soon, the lake is gone. It's all drained into a sinkhole that just formed on the bottom. On the drive home, they hear about more fissures opening, and the radio blames it on the nuclear test. They talk about Lemuria and Mu, great cities that sank after earthquakes buried them in the sea.
When Goro and Rokuro get home, they find men inside who beat them up. Hiroshi comes in just in time to save them. After they recover we see that Goro is an inventor of the science-fiction variety. The place is a mess, but they didn't take anything. Meanwhile, Hiroshi chases the bad guys in his dune buggy. They drop a fire bomb out of the car, and get away.
They do find some strange red sand on the floor of the house. After some testing, they find that it's from a very far off island in the Pacific.
Goro is working on a robot, and he's finally finished it. The bad guys kidnap Rokuro and make him open the door to Goro's lab.
These two baddies are agents from the hidden underwater land of Seatopia, and they want the robot. We cut to Seatopia, where there's a whole ritualistic dance thing going on. The Emperor of Seatopia says the men above have declared war by blowing up their northern province with their nuclear tests. They call upon their monster, Megalon, to destroy the surface dwellers.
Megalon is a giant monster with metal claws, wings, and some kind of electrified horns that glow. The agents program the robot, who also flies, to assist Megalon in his task by guiding him.
Hiroshi is tied to a chair in the robotics lab as the agents explain everything to him. Goro and Rokuro are tied up in a container that's headed to Seatopia. Hiroshi escapes and chases after Goro and his brother. This soon turns into a car chase down a mountainside. He loses them.
Megalon finally arises from the lake bed, and the agent orders him to attack Tokyo. The robot leads the big monster to the city. The military mobilizes and prepares for the worst.
The hired bad guys are about to dump Goro and Rokuro off a cliff when they see the monster approaching. The monster accidentally frees Goro and Rokuro from the truck before it's too late. They recognize their robot, Jet Jaguar. Goro made a tiny remote control that he can use as long as the robot is in visual range.
The army and Megalon fight, Goro retakes control of the robot and tells him to fly to Monster Island and get Godzilla. The Emperor of Seatopia calls Nebula M and requests help from Gigan as a backup.
Jet Jaguar reaches Monster Island quickly and signals to Godzilla, who understands him completely. Meanwhile, Megalon is flattening Tokyo.
Jet Jaguar stops taking orders from anybody; he's on his own now. He confronts Megalon, and we see that he can grow huge himself (his determination makes him big). Now an equal, he and the monster fight.
Gigan arrives, teaming up with Megalon to beat the robot. That goes badly for Jet Jaguar until Godzilla finally arrives. Soon, it's a four-way battle between the kaijus and the giant robot. There is a great deal of roaring, wrestling, and throwing things away. This goes on for two or three days, or so it seems.
Eventually, after a long battle, the bad monsters are dispatched. Jet Jaguar and Godzilla shake hands, they are besties now. Goro, Rokuro, and Hiroshi wave goodbye to the helpful monster. The robot shrinks down to normal size and goes home with the boys. With his mission accomplished, he's just a mindless robot again-- until next time!
Brian's Commentary
There's a lot of stock footage and reused footage from previous films with the army and evacuation stuff.
There wasn't much monster action until the final half-hour, and then it was nothing but men in rubber suits wrestling. It started out well enough, but there was just too much monster fighting, which gets old very quickly.
Kevin's Commentary
The citizens of Tokyo in this universe must get mighty tired of all these dang kaiju busting up the city. I thought the creature battles were the weakest, least interesting part of this one. Once those started, it felt tedious - like wrestling where you know ahead of time who's going to win.
2022 Shin Ultraman
Directed by Shinji Higuchi, Ikki Todoroki
Written by Hideaki Anno, Eiji Tsuburaya
Stars Takumi Saito, Masami Nagasawa, Hidetoshi Nishijima
Run Time: 1 Hour, 52 Minutes
Watch it:
Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4j9JGZe
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It's a modern update to the Ultraman storyline, with multiple Kaiju creatures and aliens battling it out with humanity and each other. The human characters are well fleshed out and interesting, and there's a lot of talk and human drama with a decent balance of action and giant creatures fighting. We thought it was fun and entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
Psychedelic 70s credits roll. We immediately cut to Gomess, a giant, Godzilla-like monster, who attacks the troops, and there's a full-on battle happening. They defeat the monster, but then they have to battle "Mammoth Flower." It's just one monster after another. There's a whole bunch of giant creatures we've never seen before, and they're designated S-Species, or Kaiju. The DPA, Disaster Prevention Agency, is created.
There's a new monster in town, Neronga, and this one is both invisible and has some kind of lightning power. The DPA and military work together, since invisibility means lasers have no effect on it. It is overpowered by a power station and then becomes visible. The boss complains that Kaiju only attack Japan; the other nations might let them have nukes to defend themselves, but Japan's going to have to pay for them.
It's all looking bad for Japan when something crashes down out of the sky near Neronga. The object is moving in the smoke, and they all see it. It's a giant silvery robot with glowing eyes.
Neronga zaps the big robot full blast, but it doesn't affect him at all. When the robot shoots back, Nerongo pops like a grape, as does a lot of the mountainside. We see a guy we later know as Shinji caught in the blast shielding a boy. Then the robot flies away, and seems to vanish off radar. We see Shinji carrying the boy out of the woods.
We cut to the city, where everyone is talking about Kaiju. Asami is transferred to the department as an analyst. She meets Yumi, Kimio, Akihisa, and Shinji. She's enthusiastic about being teamed with Shinji, but he's not excited. They name the robot "Ultraman."
BOOM-- It's time for another Kaiju, this time, a radioactive subterranean one named Gabora, heading for a nuclear facility. They bomb it with American bunker-buster bombs. It's only one mountain away from the nuclear waste storage. Shinji runs off in the middle of the battle, and suddenly, Ultraman shows up right outside camp. This creature is radioactive, so if Ultraman uses his beam on it, that would be catastrophic.
Ultraman seems to know this and does everything he can to protect the humans from the monster. Ultraman knocks the monster out with one punch and then flies off with the body. Asami wonders if they can communicate with Ultraman. When they get back to base, Shinji is there waiting for them, and Asami decides to do some research on him.
All the power at the base goes off, and a stranger shows up, Zarab, who talks to them, introduces himself as "Extraterrestrial Number Two." He has come here to start a friendship with Japan, and he wants to talk to the Prime Minister. Zarab can manipulate computer data and technology, and it soon appears that he's interested in world dominance. Zarab reveals his motivations; humanity is too dangerous to live.
He also knows that Shinji is Ultraman and takes him prisoner. Soon after, a fake Ultraman attacks the city and army, and he's very obvious about it, too. The team soon figures out that Shinji has been Ultraman all along. It's suspicious that his car was found abandoned three days ago.
Zarab gives the government his "Ultraman Removal Plan." He wants to know where Shinji has hidden the device that exchanges his body with Ultraman's.
Asami finds the device at the office where Shinji trusted her with it. Kimio knows more about Shinji and Zarab than he's been telling, and he fills in Asami on the details. Zarab can create illusions, like that fake Ultraman who's been attacking everyone.
Asami finds Shinji and cuts him loose. She's not happy that he didn't tell her his secret. He becomes Ultraman and then fights his evil clone, who turns out to actually be Zarab in disguise. Ultraman cuts Zarab in half, and the battle is over.
A giant-sized Asami appears downtown. She looks right, but she doesn't speak and seems to be in a trance. Then she starts wrecking things. A voice comes from nowhere and says not to attack her, since there are others out there with Ultraman's powers. She's made of a solid version of a chemical, definitely not human.
A man comes into the office, Mefilas, yet another alien, and says he arrived before Ultraman; he's the voice from earlier. As a demonstration, he makes Asami small and human again. He wants to make humanity giant-sized so they can defend against Kaiju and aliens like Zarab.
Mefilas wants to work with Shinji, but Shinji accuses him of waking up all those Kaiju in the first place. Mefilas doesn't deny it, but he had good reasons. They have a long talk as Mefilas tries to win Ultraman over to his side. Ultraman is half-human, half-alien, so his point of view is unique.
Shinji talks to the DPA guys about stealing the Beta Box from Mefilas before he can give it to the government. As Mefilas hands over the technology to the Prime Minister, Ultraman grabs it.
Mefilas doesn't care and shows his true form and grows to giant size. The two giants fight in the middle of a refinery. Ultraman gives the Beta Box back to Mefilas, who promises to leave the planet. They both vanish.
The four DPA people are taken into custody. All the world's governments want the secrets of Ultraman, but they are soon released. Elsewhere, Shinji talks to Z Ffy, another alien who looks like Ultraman, and he's brought the Zetton, the ultimate weapon to exterminate the human race. We see that the real Shinji died in that explosion shielding the boy at the beginning, his body is there, but Ultraman basically made an exact copy that he merged with. Z Ffy releases the weapon, which goes into orbit and starts constructing something huge up there.
Shinji comes to the DPA and tells them about the Zetton. The Japanese government comes in and says they're in charge of Ultraman now, which is news to Ultraman. He quickly convinces them to back off.
Shinji has no choice but to beat Zetton himself. He flies up into orbit and starts blasting. That goes badly, and Shinji ends up in the hospital. The humans mostly give up and wait for humanity to be exterminated.
The group finds a message left by Shinji. He's left instructions on how to build their own Beta Boxes to grow huge. Taki comes up with a plan while Asami talks to the comatose Shinji, who finally wakes up. They are going to use the Beta Box technology to destroy Zetton directly.
Zetton is finally set up and ready to do its thing. Taki explains the plan, but it involves sacrificing Ultraman to save the Earth.
Ultraman flies into orbit and attacks Zetton at exactly the right millisecond, which sends them both into another dimension. Zetton is gone, but so is Ultraman.
Z Ffy talks to Ultraman in the afterlife. He's had second thoughts and wants both of them to go back to the Planet of Light. Ultraman just wants to experience being human for real. At the very least, he wants Shinji to live, with or without power.
On Earth, Shinji wakes up surrounded by his friends.
Brian's Commentary
I was never an Ultraman fan growing up, so my exposure to his story is limited to knowing who he is, but not much more.
Gabora, that underground drill-creature, was a pretty amazing design. Actually, most of the creatures here were really well done, although obviously CGI.
There's no real connection here between this film and "Shin Godzilla," although it similarly focuses on the government's reaction to the monsters and creatures. There's a lot of talking, but a lot of monster action as well.
Overall, it's pretty decent, and we were entertained. Be warned, there are a lot of subtitles, as it's a very talky film.
Kevin's Commentary
I thought this was a hoot. Like Brian, I wasn't very familiar with Ultraman before this. A lot of the classic era kaiju movies go on and on with giant creature battles overdone to the point of tedium - this one didn't do that. It entertains and moves well, with a good balance of the big action and humans doing stuff. I liked it quite a bit.
2024 Bloody Axe Wound
Directed by Matthew John Lawrence
Written by Matthew John Lawrence
Stars Sari Arambulo, Billy Burke, Molly Brown, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Run Time: 1 Hour, 23 Minutes
Trailer:
Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4doihBu
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was heavy on dark humor playing with slasher tropes. We start out right off the bat learning that there's a movie serial killer in the real world, in the video business to make money making movies about his killing. His daughter stands to take over both the movie and killing business, but things get complicated when she gets a little too involved with the potential victims. It's strange and well done and we liked it a lot.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a woman having a very bad day between a serial killer and a werewolf. He chops her with a butcher's knife... It's just a TV show starring Butch Slater.
Our narrator, Abbie, talks about her father, Roger Bladecut, and he's a real-life serial killer who helps keep their town famous. The murders on the TV show are all based on the real murders committed by her father.
She goes to the office and watches the scene we just saw on his TV, but Roger complains that he doesn't like the wolf. It was actually Abbie who played the wolf on the show. Mackenzie works at the video store, and he's annoying.
Glenn, the dry cleaner, tells Abbie he doesn't want to clean Roger's clothes because last time he found a toe in one of the pockets. It seems Roger's serial killing isn't a secret.
"Son of Bladecut" starring Makenzie, is coming out soon, and Abbie's mad that she's not involved. Roger doesn't want her to be his replacement because she's a girl. "You can't have some woman who weighs maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet instill fear in the hearts of teenagers." Still, he offers to have her tag along on the kill tonight just to see how it goes.
We cut to two stereotypical teenagers alone at the lake at night. Roger puts on his hockey mask, grabs his machete, kills them both, and then keels over with a heart attack. "Resurrection of Bladecut" was a hit film, so she buries her father. And he comes back like he always does. He has trouble digging out of the grave, and she helps him. Maybe he is getting too old for this stuff.
That night, Mackenzie goes out and puts on the mask, with Abbie backing him up. They've targeted another young couple. Mackenzie botches the kill and dies in the process-- that's not how this is supposed to work. Abbie leaps into action and cuts their phone line then puts on the werewolf mask to finish the job with her axe.
It's all going well until she gets stabbed by Sam, a potential victim, and then passes out at the laundromat. Later, she wakes up to a bunch of "Get Well Soon" cards. Her dad sends her a brand new axe. She changes the name of the new movie to "Spawn of Bladecut."
Glenn wants to be in the movie, but Abbie just wants him to run the store for her. Abbie, who's still in high school, is ready to start making her own fresh list of victims.
She ends up making friends with Sam, the school bad girl. Abbie feels the need to kill her, but doesn't really want to. They look at all the many memorial photos hanging in their high school lobby. "And that was just last year's," she points out.
"The werewolf" starts stalking Sam, watching through the window. Old man Roger starts to feel worthless in his forced retirement.
Abbie sees Patty's name circled in her yearbook, so she's next. She's about to do the job when Sam and her friends interrupt. The group all plans to go to the "Queef Queens" show tonight. Patty turns out to be nice, and she changes her mind about killing her, but her father explains the rules. Roger says the whole group has to die; that's just the way it is.
Abbie kills Izzy, the dancer from school, by pushing her out the window. She goes out for beers with Sam afterward. Sam complains about all the funerals she's been to in the past few years, and they have a romantic moment. Roger warns her that getting to know the victims just makes it harder to do the job.
Roger takes Abbie to see Izzy, who didn't die in the fall after all. "Finish the job. Tonight." Abbie looks at her friends and starts to have doubts about this whole thing. That night, when she can't finish off Izzy, Roger is outside in his mask; he'll take care of it.
Abbie goes to see Sam when they get the call that Izzy's dead. Abbie talks Glenn into calling Sam and warning her to leave town. All four kids, Abbie included, leave town in a van that soon breaks down. They all decide it's a good idea to hide out at the old deserted campground.
Glenn comes out of the woods in disguise and warns them all not to go any further; he's trying to be a harbinger. Sam sees right through his act. The group takes him hostage.
They sit around the campfire and talk about all the deaths here at "Camp Killgood" over the decades. They read an old newspaper article about Roger Bladecut. Abbie tells them the origin story of their most famous serial killer. Roger is hiding in the woods, listening to the story.
They all pass out from taking the wrong pills, no doubt Roger's work. In the morning, they find what's left of Billy outside. Patty figures out that Glenn and Abbie were working together to kill her friends. Patty grabs an axe and dies when Sam shoots her with a harpoon gun.
Roger comes after Abbie, Sam, and Glenn, and he's very good at his job. He pulls Sam out of the car and drags her away. Abbie begs him to stop and then kills him with his own machete.
Sam heard Abbie call the murderer "Dad" and has questions. Then she dies, since Roger always comes back. We zoom out and see the whole thing on TV.
Abbie is closing their video store. They get a whole box of "Spawn of Bladecut," but Abbie tosses them in the trash.
Suddenly, the lights go out. Abbie goes out to her father's grave, which is empty again. Sam is there; she came back too.
Brian's Commentary
It's a horror movie about a serial killer who makes true-life horror movies. It uses all the basic slasher tropes, but they're all very intentional and comedic here.
There's a lot here that you can't think about, but it's fun anyway. Very cool!
Kevin's Commentary
It took me a little time at the beginning to figure out what was going on, but once I did I was fully on board with it. It was thoroughly amusing and entertaining.
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