Madison County (2011)
Starring: Ace Marrero, Katie Stegeman, Joanna Sotomura
Writer & Director: Eric England
Story:
Four friends take a road trip to
Madison County to interview an author about a local legend named
Damien and all the death that surrounds him. When they get there,
author dude is nowhere to be found and the townsfolk pass it all off
as campfire-like stories. However, the kids get nosy, and you know
the drill....
Review:
Yeah, there's not anything terribly new
here. Not anything new at all, really, but I was still entertained.
Eric England proves that if you put some energy into your work, then
the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' gimmick can still make for a
fun ride. Madison County has a bunch of what we've seen before; a
group of youngsters who are so dumb that they think
splitting up in unfamiliar territory is a good idea. The setting is a
backwoods town full of rednecks who obviously have a secret. And
then we have a masked killer --a pighead mask, no less-- lurking in
the woods, taking out his victims systematically.
So yeah, this is one big ole mashup of
Texas Chainsaw, Motel Hell, Friday the 13th 1-2, and many
more. There's even some Friday remake resemblance going on. I can't say that Madison County is as enjoyable as the aforementioned
films, but I feel like it has good intentions. So, if you're looking
for something new and mind blowing, I'd suggest to look elsewhere. I
can't even promise you'll like this if you're just looking for a dumb
fun backwoods slasher, but I enjoyed it. Though, there's definitely
some room for improvement.
Eric England serves as writer,
director, producer, and so on. While the story is straight up
run-of-the-mill and the characters are quite vague, I dug on the
amount of backstory created for this rural town and its fucked up
urban legend madman. That, and the goings-on at the local diner are
the best this flick has to offer. If you've ever been in an
unfamiliar podunk town and happened to walk into a restaurant, then you
can probably relate. Everything stops and everyone looks at you and
it's uncomfortable as shit. Our young out-of-towners here muster up
the gall to order food, but they leave without it. Is that bad
continuity, or did they just say “fuck it” and dip? You decide.
As far as camera direction, there's some pretty decent stuff going
on. A couple of cool low shots looking up at the killer looming over
the cam with the tips of trees over head. The mother fucker is tall
anyway, so this technique makes him look like a giant. Also, a few front focus shots of our characters with someone or something out
of focus in the background slowly moving in and out from behind trees
are fairly unsettling. Ultimately, this looks pretty damn good for a
film that cost less than $100,000.
The characters are all pretty cookie
cutter and goofy, but I had two favorites out of our main group. Matt
Mercer as Will and Natalie Scheetz as Jenny. While not brilliant on
any level, they definitely seem the most levelheaded. But seriously,
how often are the people smart in these kinds of movies? Will kinda
resembles a Miskatonic University type nerd; he's sporting a “Derry”
shirt, which I took as a Stephen King reference, so he was cool in my
book. Mercer's good enough in the role. Jenny is an uber cute blonde
who's on the trip purely to get lucky with James (Colley Bailey),
Will's bestie. Scheetz isn't really given much depth (like everyone
else here), but I liked looking at her, so fuck it. Lastly, Nick
Principe sheds his Chromeskull getup for the backwoods creeper look
of the local legend, Damien. This is where the Motel Hell vibe is
strong; Pighead mask and overalls, but here, said overalls have a
baby shit brown tint to them. Anyway, Principe's size is pretty damn
intimidating, and he makes the character even more weirdy by spitting
out some weeping, giggly sounds while fucking with his victims. I
personally am more a fan of Principe as the tech savvy killer,
Chromeskull, but he wasn't bad here by any means.
While the kills were violent and what
we do see is cool, I expected a ton of more gore with Robert Hall and
the Almost Human Inc. crew behind the SFX. I appreciate when a movie
can cut away and still emphasize extreme intensity, but I still want
lots of blood in a movie like this. Like I said, I did like the few
scenes that are shown, and even one that isn't shown but is still as brutal as shitting after eating nothing but cheese for a week.... but
I wanted more.
Know what else I wanted more of?
Titties. Yep. Lots and lots of titties. Big, small, in the middle...
I don't give a fuck. Not just brief shots, either; give me a full on
titty extravaganza and more ass shots than I can count. Goes with
the territory, as far as I'm concerned.
I enjoyed the rock soundtrack for this
flick. I'm a big stoner rock fan, and the jams here sounded pretty
stoney, so my head was noddin'. I even caught a Steppenwolf vibe here
and there. Igor Nimorovsky provides the film score, and he's got some orchestral ominous sounding shit going on. Liked it.
Final Thoughts:
Is Madison County gonna be worth your
time or a waste of your time? Shit, I can't really say. I checked it
out via Redbox for a mere $1.28, so I in no way feel cheated. I will say you could pass it and it ain't gonna hurt. However, if you
are out for simple by the numbers horror entertainment, I'd say it's
safe to check it out. Even if you dislike it, I don't think it will
kill brain cells... there's other things for that.
