Bloody Axe Wound isn’t director/screenwriter Matthew John Lawrence’s first foray into horror. The filmmaker additionally wrote and directed 2020’s Uncle Peckerhead, which chronicled a punk band’s first tour and the way it takes a fallacious flip when a man-eating demon turns into a roadie. Larry Gone Demon, a brief from 2015, held comparable punk rock/horror vibes, and so does Bloody Axe Wound. Actually, there’s a distinctly authentic and altogether sensible edge permeating all through the film, which teams it with among the finer indie horror we have seen this 12 months.
Welcome to Clover Falls, one more small city the place actually sick and terrifying issues happen. You’d suppose by now there could be a built-in remedy fund supplied for residents of those hidden portals, which appear to be a fantastic playground for loss of life and mayhem. However then we wouldn’t be tuning in to get good bounce scares or turn out to be sick to our stomachs. There’s loads of alternative for each in Bloody Axe Wound as a result of Abbie’s (Sari Arambulo) father, Roger Bladecut (Billy Burke), is a disfigured serial killer who needs to maintain his legacy alive by capturing real-life killings on tape and promoting them to keen clients.
3
/5
Bloody Axe Wound
Bloody Axe Wound follows the daughter of a infamous ex-serial killer as she makes an attempt to emulate her father’s grim legacy. As she navigates her ambitions, her father questions her potential to uphold his notorious repute on the planet of crime.
- Launch Date
-
December 27, 2024
- Director
-
Matthew John Lawrence
- Writers
-
Matthew John Lawrence
- Bloody Axe Wound has a enjoyable premise and plenty of gory leisure.
- Billy Burke is hilarious, and the movie has a cool punk aesthetic.
- The movie usually would not know if it needs to be a foolish slasher or a considerate coming-of-age film with meta commentary.
- There wanted to be way more Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
- The enhancing and the script are messy and barely novice.
All that adjustments when he reluctantly agrees to let Abbie in on the enjoyable. Perhaps she will be able to run the household enterprise — principally killing teenagers for pleasure and revenue. It’s sufficient to make a teenaged thoughts twirl with vulnerability, after all, however toss in a primary crush by the use of Molly Brown’s Sam, and Abbie has her work — each internal and outer — minimize out for her. Let the blood spill.
Have Axe and Masks, Will Kill
This is an alert for Jeffrey Dean Morgan followers. The Strolling Useless actor — keep in mind how terrifying his character Negan was when he first arrived? — has a memorable cameo within the movie early on as Butch Slater, well-known for his slasher movies. Morgan and his spouse, Hilarie Burton Morgan, are producers right here, so we will thank them partly for this movie. Nonetheless, what enjoyable it will have been to have Morgan have extra of a task right here, however we get some good grooves by the use of Billy Burke, who handles his Sick Daddy character simply high-quality.
Abbie, you see, is adopted, and pops, like Norman Bates earlier than him, likes to maintain his personal mom’s corpse across the eating room desk. It’s all regular for Abbie, after all, and he or she needs to make papa proud, however she’s desperately wanting to seek out her personal footing on the planet. Abbie’s father has had an excellent run killing teenagers at evening and dealing at a struggling video retailer, however agrees to have her take over the serial killer enterprise; in spite of everything, she’s wanting to show herself. She takes his treasured masks and his (bloody) axe, however there’s a catch — Abbie should observe his guidelines. Like that’s going to occur, particularly after Abbie develops a crush on Sam (Brown) at her highschool.
1:59
Associated
Finest Slasher Films of All Time, Ranked
From Scream to Psycho, slasher motion pictures are a pivotal a part of the historical past of cinema, and listed below are the most effective of the most effective.
The movie likes to lean into being a coming-of-age story greater than a comedy slasher, however each genres get their due right here. Worry not, the blood, the center, and the gore are a sick enjoyment of Bloody Axe Wound. It lives as much as its title. Author-director Matthew John Lawrence additionally pulls from his punk musings of yore and infuses a gritty edge to this movie. It makes an attempt to raise this with its nihilistic humor, however the comedic components might have been extra absolutely developed. Moreover, Lawrence falters with regards to skilled transitions, enhancing, and complete storytelling. In some methods, possibly he is too punk rock for a breakthrough characteristic movie.
Papa Says Slash for Money
Inevitably, Abbie might be requested to kill her personal pals. Bummer. However will she? Daddy’s enterprise, in spite of everything, is making some dough on his movies kills. This is the place Bloody Axe Wound vacillates between what it needs to be extra of—a enjoyable slasher or a coming-of-age horror romp that’s courageous sufficient to discover the actual feelings of its characters past the floor. We do not know a lot about Abbie’s backstory, actually, and that may have been a great way to extra clearly perceive her. Similar with pops. What a fantastic thrill it will have been to incorporate flashbacks to see extra of how Abbie’s father got here to be the legend he’s.
Associated
The Highest-Grossing Slasher Films of the 2000s
Regardless of the 2000s not being the strongest decade for the slasher style, these 20 movies ranked in some dough on the field workplace.
B-players like Eddie Leavy’s Glenn are given low cost laughs, however hey, this can be a funky slasher flick, so why not? Go together with it. Abbie ultimately will get into the move of issues and the movie turns right into a feminine slasher movie. One nice kill options someone touchdown head first right into a trophy with a sharp tip. Watch for it. That tip will ultimately go all through. Ah, the blood. This woman is pleased with a giant axe.
All-too-familiar horror tropes play an element right here, too. What’s this? One other automobile that will not begin simply if you need to make an escape? It is a part of the meta, self-reflexive thrills that finally turn out to be rewarding. Positive, Bloody Axe Wound would have carried out higher as a streaming collection the place there’s extra room to discover this city and its characters — very like the latest horror comedy Hysteria! managed to do. Nonetheless, the movie finds its footing and in some way turns into a welcome if not splendidly gory deal with. Let the axe swing. Bloody Axe Wound was launched in theaters on Dec. 27, 2024, from RLJE Movies and Shudder.