‘The Curse Of Buckout Road’ Review
Stars: Evan Ross, Dominique Provost-Chalkley, Danny Glover, Henry Czerny, Colm Feore, Mayko Nguyen, Jim Watson, Kyle Mac, Michelle Mylett, John Ralston, Patrick Garrow, David Hayter | Written by Shahin Chandrasoma, Matthew Currie Holmes | Directed by Matthew Currie Holmes
There seems to be endless low budget horror with titles like the one above (and I have watched many!). ‘The Curse of…’ or ‘The Haunting of…’ and it’s always 50/50 on the quality so I generally go in with low expectations.
I will say right off the bat that The Curse of Buckout Road exceeded those expectations. Buckout Road is ‘the most haunted road in America’ and the movie covers some of the myths, legends, ghosts and folklore that apparently haunt the road. There’s plenty on show and I’m sure plenty more if they were needed for a sequel. A group of young people start to think that these myths might actually be true and their lives and those of others might be at stake.
There’s a definite nineties horror vibe to much of this movie and for once I mean that in a good way (I’m not the biggest fan of 90s teen horror), it takes the best bits of movies from this era. One of the highlights of The Curse of Buckout Road is that it doesn’t shy away from graphic violence and gore. It’s not gore for the sake of gore, the scenes the violence is shown are usually short and sweet but we do get throats being slit, bones puncturing through skin, people being burned alive, hatchets to peoples heads and plenty more. These scenes are entertaining too, blood sometimes spraying out from body parts. In fact one moment sees an arm being pulled apart from the body – there‘s plenty of gore and it is all shot in a retro grindhouse film-style. There are a few dream sequence scenes shot this way and instead if seeming like gimmick, it works really well.
Dream sequences play a big part in The Curse of Buckout Road, sometimes giving it a bit of a Nightmare On Elm Street feeling. They’re generally shot differently from the rest of the movie and involve a lot of the death and bloody scenes. Definitely turning it into more of a slasher movie. My only real complaint is that some of these moments are all to brief. There’s one ghost image (the one on some of the DVD art) that is genuinely creepy and very cool but is on the screen for maybe ten seconds. The Curse of Buckout Road is one of those movies that would make a fantastic trailer reel, awesome image after awesome image, but that’s not to say it isn’t a good film in its own right.
It seems to ‘end’ on more than one occasion. At first, I wasn’t too keen on its climax but as it evolved I was much happier. And any movie that ends with the Refused song ‘New Noise’ gets my approval (although the musicals choices throughout aren’t quite as great).
The lesser known actors put in some good performances, with the two leads – Evan Ross (The Hunger Games) and Dominique Provost-Chalkley (The Seasoning House) in particular showing off their talents. But if you came watching because you saw Danny Glover’s name involved you might be disappointed, he has little more than a cameo.
Considering the writers and director have little experience in feature films, it’s perhaps a surprise at how good it is. It is a little ridiculous at times and the story does go a bit all over the place but there’s much to like and enjoy. If you enjoy discovering low budget horror gems, The Curse of Buckout Road is one to check out.
**** 4/5
The Curse of Buckout Road is available on Digital Download now.
