Lasso

It started off well, and the quality of everything looks really nice. I'm not completely into slasher flicks. I tend to prefer a little bit more plot. So when things got in the thick of it, and there wasn't a plot. It did drag a little bit. I would have preferred more of a motive as well.

The gore effects are done really well though, so I can imagine if this was a film you'd go for. It'd be enjoyable from that perspective.

I thought the set up had so much potential, and the actors seemed good too. So it wasn't really low budget like a lot of horror out there. Like I can see what was done well, even if it's not a film I'd enjoy a lot.

In your average type horror film you usually have the bad guy or guys, chasing the scantily clad young woman or women and possibly a guy or 2 but they'll die first. In Lasso, a truly different gore-fest, you have women, seniors, a seemingly helpless young guy, and a cowboy with one arm, all running and fighting for their lives. Throw in a rodeo clown with rainbow striped suspenders and this is a very enjoyable thrilling, horror film. You don't exactly know who is going to die, which is great, it's suspenseful and also witty and having seen it twice, it's memorable. It definitely deserve much higher than it's current 4.7 rating.

This movie is for fans of the slasher genre. If you aren't one of those to begin with, then you might not care for it. But if you are a fan of the genre, then LASSO delivers the goods in terms of suspense and plentiful well-executed gore scenes. It also messes with some of the formulas in a fun way. Rather than hapless oversexed teens being dispatched by the bloodthirsty cowboys, we have a tour bus full of old folks. There's something extra fun about seeing old people fight back. There were a couple of scenes where I found myself clapping in my chair. This isn't CITIZEN KANE, but as far as modern slasher films go, it gets very high marks from this fan. A solid 9 out of 10.

So "Lasso" delivers the goods in spades with gore and some gnarly scenes. Psychotic Cowboys. A novel idea! Yes? A group of Seniors and a few stragglers on a field trip end up at a rodeo that is revealed to be anything but routine. Soon they end up on the proverbial chopping block.

The movie is a brisk 90 minutes and cuts to the chase... We don't get any backstory on the baddies. Nor do we get much backstory on the victims either. I was hoping for maybe more chase scenes. But overall It's no dealbreaker for me. Still it would've been nice to get just a little more story on both parties. Why are the Rodeo workers doing this? Who knows!

The film also looks and sounds great. The calibrated weapons of choice are also a nice touch. On paper a roving gang of homicidal Cowboys sounds silly. But it makes the most of the absurd premise. It plays it fairly straight.

Still with it's very minor flaws the film is pretty enjoyable. Shakespeare this is not. Rustle up some grub or a brew and enjoy the show Hoss. Yeehaw!

On the surface, there could be a decent horror movie in this. Killer cowboys hunting down people? It's a silly enough that it could merit some entertainment.

Unfortunately, it's just not a great or even decent horror film. The characters are thinly written and sometimes completely pointless (did we really even need a senior tour group involved?), the acting is mediocre, the dialogue is awful, the pacing is erratic, the movie is not very scary and a lot of things happen at random with no rhyme or reason. Worst of all, too much of it feels like an excuse to showcase long, over-the-top torture scenes. Admittedly, some of the gore is effectively nasty and it's not badly directed in terms of cinematic presentation, but after a while you start to grow numb to the violence. One person's death means no more than the other's when we have no investment in their safety and there's nothing else happening in the plot to justify its existence.

Even more obnoxiously, it's clear that this was made by people who hate cowboys and rural culture, but have never been to a rodeo, talked to a real cowboy/ranch-hand or understand anything about them outside of cartoons. I know I'm asking too much from a mindless action movie that wants to have it both ways by being an over-the-top parody and a serious horror movie, but it comes off as amateurish and at times like ignorant animal rights propaganda (which is crow-barred into the story for no particular reason because it never plays into the story after its original discussion). All we know from this film is that cowboys are murderous human and animal abusers that need to be slaughtered just...because.

So yeah, this is a big ole pass, pardner.