Rating: C-
Dir: Mj Dixon
Star: Eleanor James, Adam Dillon, Wellington Grosvenor, Andrew M. Greenwood
This was the ‘official’ debut feature by Dixon, who has gone on to become one of the stalwarts of the British micro-budget horror industry, making a slew of interconnected movies, in what he calls the “Mycho Universe”. On the basis of this, I’m somewhat interested in checking others out. Considering the limited resources (a reported budget of five thousand quid), I’ve certainly seen worse – except in a particular area, which we’ll get to later. Looking at his IMDb filmography, it seems he cut his teeth on shorts, and built on the experience there to decent effect – again, save that one glaring deficiency.
It does feel this might have been a case of Dixon having access to a location, in this case an abandoned prison, then coming up with a story which could take place almost entirely within it. A woman (James) regains consciousness in a jail cell, with no idea of who she was or why she is there. Exploring the facility, she finds a young man, Nathan (Dillon), who is similarly incarcerated. The problem is, also in the prison are a series of very nasty serial killers, who are let loose from their confinement, and intent on adding to their body count the scalps of Nathan and Red – as we’ll call her due to her impressive set of locks. However, are she and Nathan quite the innocents they appear? Or do they have their own history of significance?
The most notable thing is the tint of the film. Everything has been colour graded to give it a green hue, which also makes red elements, like the heroine’s hair and clothes, pop off the screen to striking effect. Really, in terms of look, it’s one of the most well-shot films at its price I’ve seen, and Dixon the cinematographer deserves a lot of credit. But… [and here we go] Dixon the director needs to fire Dixon the sound recorder, because the audio is straight-up terrible, even by the low standards of no-budget film-making. You’d think all those shorts might have taught him something; maybe they were all silents. For I could record clearer dialogue on my phone, and its mic is partially clogged up with pocket lint.
Proceedings are also dragged down by pacing issues, not least the fondness for characters to walk around as if they were wading though treacle. I had to suppress an urge to yell, “Hello! Psychotic murderers!” at the screen more than once. Naturally, the reason for Red and Nathan being locked up is eventually revealed: it manages to be logical, without making sense, if you see what I mean. The performances are okay – when you can hear them, anyway – with James coming off best, and the killers are imaginative, with flashbacks to fill in their stories. I’m inclined to forgive little gaffes, e.g. the electric chair was never used for executions in Britain, but sincerely hope Dixon sorts his audio out before Slasher House II.