That Leatherface certainly has a lot to
answer for. It seems every crazed psycho killer depicted in horror
flicks these days has to be clad in a mask, preferably one made from the
skin of his victims.
Such is the case in Michael A. Nickles
modestly-budgeted and rather obscure XII. At least the criminal
in this film, a convicted child killer whose face has been disfigured by
peeved inmates, has a practical reason for going face shopping. Now
released from prison after five years for undisclosed reasons unlikely
to be good behaviour, he hunts down his down jurors one at a time over
the course of a single horrifying night.
XII sticks unwaveringly to the
modern B-movie horror ethos; a violent psychotic killer beyond hope of
redemption, a bunch of young attractive victims who engage in lots of
meaningless sexually charged dialogue, bumbling law enforcement who
never seem to be at the right place at the right time, and an abundance
of messy dispatches filmed in unflinching detail. We are not even
spared a shot of a mutilated young girl lying prone on a mortuary slab.
Some of the camerawork is awkward and the performances a little
indifferent at times, but the gory makeup effects and infrequent
bloodbath sequences are consistently spot on, and fans of the Saw
and Hostel franchises will feel right at home with this violent
and fairly enjoyable slasher.
The other film in this latest Icon
double-header is Dead Ride, which despite receiving second
billing is, for my money, the superior of the two outings. First of all
the acting is generally of much higher calibre, despite some
freaky-looking cast members like Patrick Renna and the walking
Neanderthal David Clayton Rogers, and though the storyline is again
derivative of previous Tobe Hooper efforts like The Funhouse
writer/director Craig Singer makes a concerted effort to throw up the
odd surprise.
Filmed in 2004, screened as part of the
After Dark Horrorfest weekend in 2006, released to DVD in 2007 and
belatedly seeing the light of day on Blu-ray in mid-2010, Dark Ride
concerns a group of college students who decide to visit a spooky
abandoned Funhouse that was the scene of several grisly murders,
including that of two young twins. Unfortunately for the group the
deranged killer, who also hides his deformed visage behind a mask, has
escaped from a mental institution and is highly disgruntled that his
former abode is being treated as a tourist attraction.
Boasting convincing performances from
The Sopranos’ Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Renner, still best-known for
portraying the pudgy son on the 1993 Pauly Shore vehicle Son in Law
and the beautiful Andrea Bogart as a loopy hitchhiker, Dark Ride
is a cogent and appropriately gory affair. The set designs and special
effects are once again nicely done and the violence is protracted,
bloody and inventive, which seems to be all anyone can ask of a horror
film these days. One scene involving oral sex and decapitation is
particularly well-enacted, and isn’t something you encounter in every
run of the mill slasher. Yes it’s derivative and yes it has its flaws,
among them some occasionally choppy editing and a couple of cast members
so ugly as to defy description, but Dark Ride, like its
predecessor, delivers.
As is ever the case with Icon horror double
bills there are no bonus features, just a smattering of trailers, scene
selection and English subs. Picture quality is flawless on both films,
and each looks great on Blu despite XII taking largely place in
the bright sun of the Nevada desert and the majority of Dark Ride
being shot in the gloom of an abandoned Funhouse, demonstrating the
ability of the medium to deliver excellent clarity and contrast in both
light and dark settings. The DTS 5.1 surround sound is deep, rich and
textured in both, though the overdubbed dialogue comes across quite
tinny at times in XII.
Though both films are far from perfect they
contain plenty of thrills, lots of gore and several moments between them
of unnerving intensity. Though additional incentive in the form of
extra features would have been nice, horror fans will certainly find
much to recommend this double feature.