Low-budget, indie horror movies work best when the creators recognise their limitations, and play towards their strengths. Unfortunately, this one opts instead for bland, Hollywood-style scripting and characterization, without any of the slick visuals and impressive effects which can help paper over the banal fundamentals. The only "name" here is writer-star Vincent, who taught Sam Raimi at Michigan State: all I can say is, on the evidence here, the pupil far surpasses the master as far as film-making talent goes. Someone is killing students at the titular establishment, in a way similar to murders 30 years previously; rumours of a "chupacabra" swirl around campus, but what do faculty members Moxie and Dregstone (Lockwood and Vincent) know about the deaths?
Unfortunately, what they know, and what the viewer cares, head in opposite directions the further this processes, for the script and characters are as bland as vanilla pudding. Which would be bearable if the execution was done with zeal. But after a decent opening, the flow of the red stuff virtually stops, and bar some bad language - always the cheapest, least fun way to get an 'R' rating - this could easily be PG-13, tops. Neither stylish and polished enough to be entertaining, nor raw and transgressive enough to be effective horror, this doesn't work on a whole host of levels, and commits the ultimate sin of indie genre cinema: it's very dull.
[The DVD has behind-the-scenes + deleted footage, plus a photo gallery, and is now available. For more information, check out Brain Damage Films' website.]
D-
September 2005
