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Plague Town (2008)
Director David Gregory might already be known by horror fans as being a producer for “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth” (as well as being part of Severin Films) but now it’s time for people to know him from making his own feature film, in this case “Plague Town”. It’s a new release from Dark Sky Films and it’s also been making it’s way to film festivals as well. I also wanted to mention that the DVD cover art is terrible especially when comparing it to the original poster made for the film, so actually if you see this one don’t get discouraged because of how terrible the DVD comes off looking.
“Plague Town” starts out with a group we find out is family is in the woods on a family trip. One thing leads to another and they all find themselves stranded without a car. Looking everywhere for someone to help them they all manage to be split up at one point. This of course is a terrible idea as every time they are in the woods they are hearing strange things and basically getting the crap scared out of them. Little do they realize that there are bloodthirsty mongrel children out there ready to stalk and kill them.
Going into the movie I was actually reminded a bit by a film that Dark Sky released sometime back called “Them”. The film is similar in the fact that the woods are used as a device to trick and control the viewer like in many other films, “Them” included. At first I really was into the story and where it was going, but the movie to be gets a little annoying in the middle with the pacing. I thought that this one started out with a band and just had a hard time following what happens. It does manage to pick up again at points though and the movie actually has some very decent gore shots. The creature design in the movie is simple yet effective and in the end they didn’t really need to go that far with the effects. What they did works even though it’s simple and that’s something I found to be refreshing. I like simple designs, of course when they work and its nice to see that over complicating it wasn’t done here.
The acting in the film is sketchy to say the least, but it’s not totally poor overall. The characters in the film just aren’t that likable or interesting in the least and the only time you really feel anything for them is when it’s too late. It’s just poor character development in my opinion and here it probably hurts the movie along with the poor pacing.
Overall I thought that “Plague Town” is an okay film, but it’s been done and it’s been done better. I found this one to be rather comparable with a film grouped with the first “After Dark Horrorfest” years back called “Wicked Little Things” which I found to be a lot better than this one. It’s not bad, but then again it’s nothing great that will have you grabbing the end of your seat during. Check it out, but I would have to say to do it at your own risk.
Rating - **1/2
-Ed Demko
