Director: Glenn Douglas Packard
Writer: Glenn Douglas Packard, Darryl F Gariglio (Screenplay)
Starring: Daniel Wilkinson, Brian Raetz, Lindsey Nicole, Ryan Moore, Celina Beach, Nicole Dambro, Keith Webb
Plot: A group of friends return home with a friend to help him share a secret only to learn that sometimes older secrets are even more deadly.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Slasher Turns Torture Porn
Story: Pitchfork starts in true horror film style by giving us an early victim we know nothing about or will never learn enough about. Starting off with our main characters of Hunter (Raetz) who is returning to the country to reveal his secret with his friends in support Clare (Nicole), Matt (Moore), Lenox (Beach), Flo (Dambro), Rocky (Webb), Janelle (Leason) and Gordon (Raghave) *Hint we have a lot of victims to pick from here*.
With the friends, all at a barn dance with plenty of drinks and sex we get to see Pitchfork (Wilkinson) make his on screen debut with one hand being a pitchfork and after killing Hunter’s family the friends become his latest victims.
Thoughts on Pitchfork
Story – Let’s start this by making it clear I am a huge fan of the slasher sub-genre of horror and I am always hoping somebody will create the next horror icon. I did like how this film started with the killer which does have a great look to be something new just picking off victims which I think is all good for a slasher. Where I think, this film goes slightly off track is by turning into a torture porn styled film because it doesn’t fit anything that has been created beforehand. I can see some horror fans enjoying this but for me this just felt like an extension of what is otherwise a short story.
Horror – We do get elements of the slasher genre which all work nicely but it is the dive into torture porn that makes this film lose what was created in the opening half.
Characters/Performances – When you look at the character the arc Hunter is meant to go through feels like it should be much more important in the overall story having to find the courage to face his disapproving father about his true nature but that gets forgotten and he just becomes a bland hero, we also get the same from most of his friends that all have the trademark, good friend, the asshole, the nice girl and awkward romance angle. They all fill the check box for slasher horror. The performances are not going to be making any real waves in the horror industry but all work for low budget horror.
Settings – The film is set on the farm which does keep everything feel isolated with the vehicles being taken out of the question early on.
Special Effects – We have a couple of good kills which all come off very effective for the ow budget style this film is designed to be.
Final Thoughts – This wasn’t the best or ever going to compete for the best horror but it does everything it needs to without falling into the terrible level.
Overall: Enjoy the bodies pile up throughout the film.
Rating
