Welcome to Hell Town, a nowhere place where everybody knows your name … and has many a motive to kill! This PG-13 rated horror comedy is certainly one way to close off the summer when Jason Voorhees is not around. When the pickings for terror are slim during the month of August now turned September, I prefer this flick over Ghost Team, a different kind of paranormal comedy.
Writer/directors Steve Balderson and Elizabeth Spear loves playing with the tropes found in many a soap opera and high school-based drama found on television. Whether that’s Saved by the Bell or 90210, these characters are sad. Whether they are trash talking about one another behind their backs or in front of, it sets up the remainder of the film which folks have to see for themselves. The acting is not spectacular by any means. The performers must have been told to ham it up, and not take this movie seriously. It shows, and that’s a bit of this film’s charm.
However, it should be noted that this product presents the tales from a lost television show. Instead of something serious, like out of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (to which I love this series), this product is something that I would expect being introduced by Elvira. The Meryl Streep of Horror, Debbie Rochon, introduces this product, and she’s very clearly having fun with playing hostess.
This movie fits into the so bad its good category. Two roles that stood out for me are Bobby Gable (Blake Cordell) and Trish Gable (Krysten Day). Between blow jobs and teen angst, there’s something of a plot: A Letter Jacket Killer is running around offing fellow classmates. Anyone who shows interest in Gable is killed. Someone is a future Michael Myers in the making and everyone is a suspect. To get to the reveal is a chore, but at least the end-product is a satisfying romp. You just have to be the type who appreciates soap operas with a serial killer bent.
