Review: The Axe Murders of Villisca



(tvqc.com)

I frequently talk about what I believe is a horror renaissance. I haven't looked too deeply into the matter and am sure others discuss it in great length, but I honestly believe the genre has been revitalized in recent years. Horror has become big business. Transcending genres, movies like The Witch received critical acclaim and set to appeal to atypical fans and those who don't enjoy the genre.
  

One underrepresented party in this renaissance is IFC Midnight. Bringing attention to a plethora of horror gems (most recently Autopsy of Jane Doe and The Babadook), IFC Midnight has done more than its fair share. That's one of the reasons I was shocked about their acquisition of their latest film, The Axe Murders of Villisca. From the trailer alone, this movie seemed of suspect quality. However, seeing as how IFC Midnight took on its distribution, I gave it a chance.

 

Marring a near perfect record for me, IFC Midnight's The Axe Murders of Villisca begins well enough; it's crazed opening sequence was enough to settle into. But, what begins as a youthful and easy-going horror film quickly devolves into an entirely off-putting B-horror movie with questionable plot points, ridiculous imagery and rampant stereotyping. So much of this movie felt unnecessary- from the dead parent storyline of one character to that same homosexual character's overly stereotypical blind lust for his heterosexual counterpart, Axe Murders felt like a movie that wanted to be so much more but ended up being so much less. By the movies climax, The Axe Murders of Villisca becomes so inept that this review was the only thing that left me watching.

Let's first examine the salvageable: the first half of this movie seems to be setting viewers up for something enjoyable. The acting, while sometimes tripped by poor writing, is performed well enough by the three leads. Robert Adamson (The Young and the Restless) as group leader, Caleb, Jarrett Sleeper (Stranger Than Fiction) as gay friend, Denny, and Alex Frnka (The Inbetweeners) as bad girl, Jess, all seem destined for bigger and better things. Each is fine until the writing and storyline become so poor that not even they are able to salvage it.

 

This entire storm climaxes with the concluding scene. Somehow on its own plane of awfulness, the tossed up, I'll-take-the-blame finish to Axe Murders is grating. Hurried and actually stupid (there is no other word to describe it), the conclusion is more than laughable, it's condemnable.

 

Perhaps the one blessing of this movie is its short runtime. At less than 90 minutes, The Axe Murders of Villisca won't cause you actual physical pain. That's about it. To be honest, I expected more from IFC Midnight and I'm in awe at this movie's existence. I'd give The Axes Murders of Villisca 2 pitch black eye contact out of 10 and 3 stars out of 10.

 

 ***I added one pitch black eye contact for Bertha of Two and a Half Men fame being in it. Don't know how she ended up employed at a school, but it's certainly a welcome addition***