It’s a trio of flicks with killers on the loose. Wahoo! Let’s get right into them.
HAUNTED TRAIL (2021)
A Black Halloween haunted attraction movie directed by Robin Givens? I was so in.
As our group of friends prepares to head to a haunted trail in the woods, they reference having Halloween spirit, but there’s no effort to bring that spirit to the locations where they’re getting ready. All the fun atmosphere is saved for when they reach their destination.
As haunted attraction movies go, this one delivers on the vibe, with lots of footage of the action, plenty of red light and fog machines, and fleeting glimpses of the masked killer in the background.
What is notable is the unique camera work and editing, which is at times effective and at other times chaotic and raucous.
Either way, it does add interest to otherwise routine proceedings.
The hardest part to buy as the friends are killed off one by one and then try to race through the attraction to get out alive is that they keep encountering the haunters that work there, yet they run around and past them screaming instead of just stopping and telling them there is a real killer on the loose. Of course chances are no one would believe them…
There are some clever and effective suspense scenes, plus a “The Haunted Trail” theme song during the closing credits, but I did find the denouement to be somewhat of a letdown. But really…who cares? There’s a masked killer and deaths. What more could you ask for?
THE LATENT IMAGE (2022)
This gay thriller from the director of Sleepaway Slasher began as a short, 20-minute film, which is included on the DVD as an extra. Since I felt a little bewildered by all the content added to draw the story out for another 70 minutes, I also watched the short, which is a more streamlined experience.
Generally, I really liked the plot. It’s a familiar tale of a writer holing up at a cabin in the woods alone to focus on his writing and then finding his own imagination coming to life when a man shows up claiming his car broke down.
I guess you would call this an erotic psychological thriller, because it definitely attempts to play with your mind. However, it does so by bombarding us with dream sequences, manifestations of the author’s story as he’s writing, and his own fantasies about what might transpire between him and the stranger.
There are some excellent sexual encounters and suspense scenes, but as we try to make sense of it all, again and again we are presented with the fact that most of the situations aren’t really unfolding.
So does the stranger mean danger or is he just a guy in a pinch who is interested in helping the author act out his ideas for his new novel?
The tension is both sensual and unnerving as they become physically more aggressive with each other while playing out scenarios for the book, and the final act definitely ramps up the suspense, but until the bitter end, you’re never really sure if any of it is actually happening or all in the writer’s mind.
MASK OF THE DEVIL (2022)
I’m always up for a horror movie that takes place on the set of a porno.
But first, white men do some stupid shit in the 1800s and go against the warnings of a tribe doing a ritual with a mask. Pretty soon, someone possessed by the mask is hacking white guys up left and right. That’s how you start a horror movie.
In modern times, a naive young girl who needs a job so she can move out of her parents’ house takes a job as a “fluffer” on a film set.
She quickly discovers what kind of film it is as the dildos fly. Sexual humor ensues, some of it chuckle-worthy. But also, much of it just doesn’t hit the mark enough to keep the momentum of the horror comedy aspect.
The film begins to drag until about 45 minutes in when people on the set begin coming in contact with one particular prop…a mask. Uh-oh.
Once someone slips the mask on and becomes possessed the tone totally changes, and this turns into a fast-paced, old school suspenseful slasher with plenty of kills (much of the gore is CGI). It’s definitely worth sticking with this one to get to the final act for some slasher thrills.
