We all love horror flicks with damsels in distress, but does this trio of films deliver? Let’s find out.
THEY TURNED US INTO KILLERS (2024)
This is actually a sequel to the revenge film Room 9. I didn’t at first remember Room 9 enough to figure out how it ties into this film, but it quickly came back to me (thanks to flashback clips).
This is another revenge flick and stars Scout Taylor-Compton, who showed up at the end of Room 9. Here she is getting revenge for her friend who died after a night of partying with some guys.
At the same time, a hate crime from the first film is revisited as the Black guy who saw his mom killed by white men as a child recalls getting his revenge. Now he wants to team up with Scout.
It’s mostly all talk until there’s finally some torture at the end. There’s simply not a lot to cling to here.
THE DEVIL’S WORK (2024)
This is one of those films that appears to have been shot with one camera that follows all the action, and at first that perspective creates some great tension.
However, it isn’t long before the repetitive nature of the threat constantly appearing in the background to the sound of an ominous musical cue gets stale.
This sort of feels like a take on The Strangers home invasion concept. A couple vacations at a house, and within minutes a creepy looking woman begins lurking outside in the shadows.
38 minutes later, the woman finally starts doing some chasing.
The couple knows the woman, who is painted as mentally unstable, so the only thing that keeps you watching is the need to find what the backstory is between these three. Unfortunately, even that isn’t interesting enough to create momentum.
In the end I was left not understanding what the movie was trying to tell us…and I wasn’t sure if there was some sort of supernatural angle or just a visual manifestation of mental illness I was seeing.
GUTS ON THE CHAINSAW (2023)
This backwoods horror flick definitely has a vibe, even throwing in some documentary style flashbacks of hikers that have gone missing over the years, but it relies more on style than substance—and the style gets annoying after a while, with excessive slow motion sequences set to melodramatic music.
The paper thin plot introduces a young woman who was in rehab and a mental institution after what she believed was a real experience being chased by a psycho in the woods, but which she is being gaslighted into thinking was just a nightmare.
Sooooo…as part of her therapy she goes into the woods alone to hike. Sigh.
She meets some people along the way, from a weird hillbilly to a nice hiker dude who chats with her for a while.
Eventually she is chased by a psycho wearing a sack over his head, comes upon a house where she encounters a dude in drag, and then has a final battle with a big creep. This guy is like a freaky skin mask hillbilly and the highlight of the film. Eek! I loved him.
Unfortunately, the final battle is corny and involves hand grenades and some really bad CGI explosions, not to mention the main girl getting stabbed in the back at least a dozen times yet still having the strength to start a chainsaw.
