The masks are cool, and there’s killing with sharp weapons, but only one of these three truly delivers on hardcore slasher action. Let’s find out which one…and why the others didn’t quite satisfy.
HE NEVER LEFT (2023)
I love the concept of the production company Witching Season Films—each of their horror movies takes place at Halloween time, the tone is set with classic Halloween decor and fall foliage, and there’s a filter applied that captures the look and feel of 80s VHS tapes. So naturally, this one lands on the complete holiday horror page.
The problem with He Never Left is that the Halloween season plays no part in what happens, and the masked killer hyped in the movie and on the poster art has very little relevance to a majority of the movie.
Instead, the film focuses on a guy hiding out in a hotel room after murdering someone. Virtually the whole film takes place in the hotel room, with the guy, who is perfectly portrayed as intensely paranoid, seeing visions of his victim and hearing the sounds of someone screaming in the hotel room next door.
There is a side story involving the police who are looking for him, and the legendary “Pale Face” killer that we learn terrorized the town years before does come into play, but this is no slasher film, and by the final act, the “mystery” is so convoluted and confusing, with new characters being introduced at the last second, that it’s not quite clear what the hell is going on, despite one of the newly introduce characters having to literally explain it to us.
BUTCHERS BLUFF (2023)
Argh! Why do filmmakers not review their movies and really feel the weight of runtimes that kill the stretches between the best parts? This is a backwoods slasher with a familiar, basic plot, vicious kills, quality gore effects…and a running length of 123 minutes. No, dammit. Just no. This could have been a great, simple backwoods horror flick if it had been 90 minutes long instead.
Jeremy London, who stars in Bone Face (below), actually appears in the opening kill scene of this one, which is a classic—couple gets it while parked in their car at night.
Gritty kill footage during the opening credits is almost like a mini-slasher in itself. Another plus. Then we get interviews following the murders, with locals talking about the legend of the Hog Man.
Our main characters are film students that come to town to do a documentary about Hog Man. They start asking questions. They follow leads. They learn the backstory of Hog Man, which is right out of Rob Zombie’s Halloween. They encounter horror icons like Brinke Stevens and Bill Oberst Jr.
Eventually, they head into the woods and the murders begin. There are gruesome kills, scenes in Hog Man’s lair, sex scenes, including one with girl boobs and another with hot man butt. Awesome. This meaty butt is right up in the camera, and I wanted to wash that snack down with some Cherry Cola. This one definitely lands on the stud stalking page.
Unfortunately, there’s also that 123-minute issue. The plot isn’t deep enough to support 123 minutes. I would have added this one to my movie collection if it had been a tighter script.
BONE FACE (2025)
Imagine if Friday the 13 Part V married an Agatha Christie novel, and you have Bone Face. I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing, which was mostly a lot of talking, so I won’t spend much time on this one.
Don’t get too excited about the cool masked killer on the poster art and the awesome opening massacre in which a load of camp counselors is slaughtered. That’s the most slasher you’re going to get.
Jeremy London plays a sheriff that arrives on the scene of the crime with his deputy. They quickly conclude that the killer is not the infamous Bone Face behind a legend mentioned by the camp counselors before they died, but is actually one of the numerous people inside a nearby diner. So, he locks them in the diner and spends the rest of the movie interrogating them to solve the mystery. There’s red herring, arguing, fighting, and more surprises in the mounting mystery, but no Bone Face.
That’s it. That’s the movie. Eventually the person who posed as Bone Face is revealed for a final showdown with the law in the final, slasher-free act.
