A Horror Film Blog

Stop me if you've heard this one before ... Two women arrange to meet up with  male friends in an isolated cabin.  Once they get there, they find their friends are missing and are marauded by some distinctly unfriendly locals. "That's a warning sign, isn't it?  We should heed that.  We shoul go back ... Oh, wait, don't leave me alone ..." That is about as basic a horror film scenario as you can get, without involving babysitters and a masked killers.  The twist that makes The Retreat slightly - very slightly - different is that the cabin attendees are gay - two queer women meeting up with their queer male friends for a weekend away, unaware that the locals are distinctly unwelcoming to the rainbow community. It's not exactly a radical innovation - horror films have often focused on frowned-upon sexual activity, and you could argue the shift from villain to victim signals some advancement for the rainbow community.  But beyond this, the film is pretty obvio...

 After watching Mickey Keating's Offseason I decided to check out more of his work, so I watched Carnage Park.  I'm glad to report it is another win - a slick micro-budget thriller centred on brilliant performances by Ashely Bell as the hapless victim of terrible misfortune, and the genius of sound designer Sean Duffy.  Keating helps out a bit as well. Vivian is not having a good day. First, the obvious criticism - this is nothing original.  A bank heist goes wrong and two hoodlums try to escape with a hapless woman - wrong place at the wrong time, lady! - in the truck.  Their flight to Mexico is cut short when they blunder into a cheerful local psychopath's devil's playground. Thus far, we could be watching any number of cheap and cheerless Tarantino or Rodriguez knock offs.  Keating signals his influences cheerfully - there are about half a dozen references or borrowings from Reservoir Dog s and From Dusk Till Dawn in the two sentences above, and Keatin...