Resurrection County

source: Resurrection County

Just another leftist BS hit piece based on lies and intended to gin up hatred toward Southerners and/or non-urbanites. The people who may find this tripe entertaining need to be closely watched and monitored. This is not entertainment, it is sick propaganda. That someone could put this to film, let alone imagine or write such garbage speaks volumes toward the downward spiral of humanity. Adding the low-hanging fruit of Christian bashing shows the creators as being true cowards as well. They dare not take on a real enemy. I'd suggest that the filmmakers and the others that enjoy this trash take a good long look in a mirror... and stay the hell away from me.

I watch many a horror film, some good and some bad - I know what I like and I liked this very much. Whilst Resurrection County won't win any awards, my personal opinion is that it rose above many other films of its ilk by putting a different slant on the "rednecks" usually seen in movies of this type. The inhabitants of Enoch, in my opinion, were more of a religious/survivalist type who would for the most part, leave intruders alone - unless of course, they interfere in their world. I have no complaints about the acting or the effects and was surprised by the ending... my only complaint was the character of Lucy whom I found a bit irritating and Dayton Knoll reminded me of Corey Feldman - other than that, a rather solid little film.

Beautifully directed and photographed on location in Arkansas, Resurrection County is an electric horror movie that is original, creative, and finely crafted. The story of city people hiking in the woods and being pursued and violated by back country lunatics could well be clichéd. Not in this remarkable film. The characters are deeply developed and fresh. Even the villains are much more than murderous beasts out for blood. The humanity of all involved is explored and the extent civilized individuals are willing to go in order to live is wonderfully observed. The suspense never lets up and the thrills come one after another. An Award winning film of unusual quality.

Gifted director Matt Zettell sets the screen afire with horror in this incredibly intense film where suburbanite campers must fight for their very lives against unimaginable terror. Creating an atmosphere of unrelenting horror and dread, Zettell provides one shocking sequence after another. At times the starkly haunting imagery is overwhelming and one is forced to look away. The acting is uniformly superb with a cast that each delivers breathtaking performances. This is a film that constantly asks the question of what we would do if put in such a situation. Would we be able to do what it takes to survive? A film that reaches beyond the horror elements to confront the audience with existential matters seldom confronted in cinema.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was not about torture, but an unusually deranged family who were violent in some original and creative ways inspired by Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. The film is an incomparable and timeless cinematic masterpiece which culminates in a terrifyingly bizarre dinner party. This film conversely, is the typical overdone torture * movie - the only similarity being the kids encounter rednecks in the country - with that empty don't-need-a-reason attitude. A perfect demonstration of how torture flicks don't belong in the horror genre due to their general omission of anything scary or creative - only unimaginative meaningless torture. I couldn't finish watching Resurrection County. Mainly because it was disturbing in a most unoriginal way. And also because the script and interaction between characters was shallow and unbelievable. And it was just too boring.

So I was in the mood to watch a stereotypical bad horror movie and I settled on this due to decent reviews. I was very surprised mostly by how realistic the villains were in this one. They are more like people that we have met or even know rather than your run-of-the-mill typical inbred stupid rednecks you tend to see in these movies. This movie sets up the norm and then has an early (edge of your seat disturbing) scene in the first quarter and then kind of dies out a bit before gearing back up again. I was surprised at the character left standing but I saw the ending coming a mile away. Maybe I've just seen too many of these movies. The acting and effects are believable. The story is pretty realistic (most of the time.) I was going to give 6 stars but I gave it 7 because it was on my mind for a couple days after watching it. I personally enjoyed this movie.

Two urban couples head to the countryside for some downtime; however, they're quickly introduced to the other side of 'roughing it' in the wilderness when the men's ATV excursion makes a collision course straight for hell, where the locals aren't keen to strangers. After a standoff with a couple of ill-tempered hillbillies, the residents of Resurrection County go from hostile to downright murderous, out to avenge the death of one of their own. It's your run-of-the-mill redneck torture flick - city folks wander off into no man's land for some fresh air, only to end up being stalked (sometimes devoured, but not in this case) by a group of inbred loonies who possess the strength of Hercules and the Hulk combined. Lo and behold, the actors and actresses, a bunch of no-names, do a pretty damn decent job. The make-up department and special effects crew deserve a round of applause for creating very realistic blood and gore on a limited budget. It falters midway through, courtesy of some slow-moving and unnecessary scenes that should have ended up on the cutting room floor, as well as succumbing to the stereo-typical errors that characters in horror movies make. There is a shotgun scene in the beginning that will satisfy sadists but, while gory throughout, there really isn't much on-screen torture or anything that qualifies as extreme, not to veteran horror fans anyway. Although predictable, it's still intense with genuine performances, but lacks anything fresh or remarkable.

When it comes to bad horror films, "Resurrection County" is slightly above average. Winner of Best Horror Film at the Bare Bones Festival (whatever that is), it's a low budget, straight-to-DVD slasher flick that entices you with its R18+ rating. I can't really see the need for it myself. Most of the gore is left to your imagination. The plot owes heavily to the likes of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Wrong Turn"... to name a few. Two couples set up camp a little too close to a clan of Rednecks who "don't much like them city folk". Nothing new here. Fortunately it boasts a few genuinely intense moments and the acting isn't too bad. It sags a bit in the middle and it suffers from a few classic horror movie mistakes. Don't leave shotguns behind, don't waste bullets and don't stop for a quick smooch when you're surrounded by psychos. If you enjoy the occasional bad horror movie, you could do much worse than RESURRECTION COUNTY. Check out my IMDb List for some better suggestions. "HORROR/THRILLER: Obscure, Overlooked & Underrated" http://www.imdb.com/list/8QFZ78e4Ar8/

This is possible my favourite backwoods film of all time and yes that means it exceeds The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( 1974 ). I was giving up on North American Horror until I watched this little gem a few years back. In fact I thought only Asia and Europe were making great flicks, hello Martys, Frontiers, Inside, High Tension, In my skin, Creep, Severance, Storm warning, Eden lake, Them,The orphanage etc etc etc but films like this one, Lovely Molly, Insidious and The Orphan have renewed my trust in films in North America. Resurrection County is one of the most insanely intense film I have seen in years. I was on the edge of my seat throughout its beautifully crafted running time. You can see the influence from such films like High Tension and Frontiers here especially with our main heroine with her short hair and blood drenched body. Distribution for this gem was very small so please do seek it out. It will be worth every minute you put into it.