Now available on a 2 disc limited edition DVD set is the
1980’s inspired horror film The Barn,
about a group of high schoolers that awaken an evil trio of monsters on the Halloween
of 1989 at an old abandoned barn. It is delightfully campy 1980’s horror insanity,
which transports you back to those wonderful days of VHS rentals and low budget
shot-on-video (SOV) productions. Everything about it completely oozes the era
and the genre of the time period, easily being able to pass itself off as a
movie that was psychically made in 1989.
The story follows the typical archetype of an 80’s horror picture,
blending elements of the occult, demon worship, and the slasher subgenre. This
is imagery that you would come to find in Halloween,
Children of the Corn, Scarecrow, and the thousands of other movies that sat
on the video store shelf. It also features the typical archetypal characters
that you would come to find; the virgin, the jock, the promiscuous girl, the
leader, his friend, the crazy old man, and an excellent trio of monsters. It
also contained specific rules for making it through Halloween, which followed
monster rules seen in The Monster Squad,
Fright Night, and later on the slasher rules in Scream. It does nicely blend 80’s dialogue, comedic elements, and
straight gore practical effects.
The acting is what you would come to expect from a low
budget independent horror production, with most of the cast appearing in their
first feature length films. That is the unfortunate side effect of working on a
low budget, which was partially funded through an Indiegogo campaign. The end
result is that most of the performances lacked the true emotional depth that
would have pushed their character portrayal up another notch and really added
more dimension It was a pleasant surprise to see appearances from scream queen
Linnea Quigley (Night of the Demons
and Return of the Living Dead) and
Ari Lehman (Jason Voorhees in Friday the
13th).
Director Justin Seaman took on many duties during this production, which is something that is common in low budget independent filmmaking. Including directing, he also was the writer, editor, producer, and actor. One thing that really has to be commended is his ability to achieve the specific look like this was actually released in the 80’s, which included props, set design, practical effects, the score, and specifically the degradation of the film. They were able to add in the spots and other effects that are reminiscent of damage to the film stock over time. This has been used before for motion pictures that are recreating grindhouse and exploitation flicks and it works well in this situation. There is also some decent camera placement and movement throughout that helps create several memorable sequences.
Director Justin Seaman took on many duties during this production, which is something that is common in low budget independent filmmaking. Including directing, he also was the writer, editor, producer, and actor. One thing that really has to be commended is his ability to achieve the specific look like this was actually released in the 80’s, which included props, set design, practical effects, the score, and specifically the degradation of the film. They were able to add in the spots and other effects that are reminiscent of damage to the film stock over time. This has been used before for motion pictures that are recreating grindhouse and exploitation flicks and it works well in this situation. There is also some decent camera placement and movement throughout that helps create several memorable sequences.
The overall stars of this are the practical effects and
score. Practical effects and kill scenes pretty much make or break this type of
motion picture and it more than delivers, with a trio of costumed monsters,
over 30 kills, gallons of blood, and several outstanding kill sequences. The
score from Rocky Gray is absolutely brilliant and it is the ultimate 1980’s
horror soundtrack, blending a mostly synthesized score with a mixture of heavy
metal songs. There is also a performance from the rockabilly band The Legendary
Hucklebucks that occurs during the movie. It could be debated that this style
of music doesn’t fit for the era, but I didn’t have an issue with it and quite
enjoyed it.
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| Hmm...Nothing bad could happen if we go in this abandoned barn |
This is most likely going to only appeal to a certain niche
horror fan, ones that enjoy 80’s low budget horror, the SOV subgenre, or gore.
Despite the average acting, it more than delivers on violence and gore and
presents a fun trip back to the glorious VHS era.
Share the terror!
Share the terror!
