Bender

I expected more from a movie with Linda Purl, Bruce Davison, Buck Taylor & James Karen. Even as 1800's American History, the story was lacking.

This film is classified as horror, and, as a story of the notorious Bender "family" (who probably were not a true family at all), it would be assumed to be one - however, in reality, it is primarily a quiet psychological drama with some metaphysical elements, and a touch of the macabre. There is a small element of the core story of the Benders within - a group of apparently related people (who definitely are a family in the film version) open an inn in the American Wild West during late XIX century, and proceed to entrap and murder lonely travellers who stop by in the night - but it is very far away from the known facts of the true events, and the film should be treated as something of a very loose fantasy, peripherally inspired by history.

It is, in fact, quite involving, slow and - rather unusually, considering the subject - sometimes almost peaceful in its tone.

The film has the feeling of a local project, and I suspect that it was conceived, born and filmed in Kansas, by people personally interested in what may be the darkest story of the region (or at least was one, until a certain Dennis Rader appeared there...); I would certainly not mind its full score being released.

The unsettling true story of America's first serial killing family. A troubled doctor (Jon Monastero) searches for patients swallowed by the prairie and encounters the Benders, homesteaders trapped by a life of unspeakable sin.

If nothing else, this film deserves praise for bringing the story of the "Bloody Benders" to life. Somehow, despite a lifetime of reading true crime and history, as well as devouring thousands of horror films, this reviewer has no recollection of ever hearing about the Bender family. And it is such a good story, that it really deserves to be explored more. From 1869-1872, the family killed at least 11 people and even captured the imagination of a young Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), who had a loose connection to the Benders.

Horror fans will delight at James Karen ("Return of the Living Dead") as lecherous Old Man Bender. His actions are ravenous, almost animalistic, but perhaps not far from reality. According to reports, the real Bender "spoke very little English. When he did speak it, it was so guttural that it was usually unintelligible." Further, he "was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many to consider him a half-wit." So this bizarre portrayal is actually quite appropriate. (Horror fans also get Bruce Davison of "Willard" fame as the mayor!) The plot is clever and imaginative. The easy way out would have been to do a straight-up exploitation film with blood and guts. We still get that, of course, but the focus is really on an outsider (the doctor), which provides a more interesting story than just the same old hack-and-slash. The unfortunate thing is that there is very little dialogue, and a fairly short (80-minute) running time, so the film feels less than fully fleshed out at times. There is also the fact that the costumes seem too clean for pioneers. Apparently they could not afford to buy the costumes outright or get them dry cleaned, so the actors had to avoid dirtying the rentals.

While the film is less than perfect, it is still a valiant effort and ought to be appreciated for being more than the same old thing. Horror, as much as we all love it, has a tendency to beat a dead horse. Not so in this case. The "pioneer horror" subgenre is small – beyond "Ginger Snaps Back" and "Ravenous" there are few entries – and "Bender fits in well here. The film was in distributor limbo for a couple years, but is now seeing the light of day thanks to Candy Factory Films.

Too bad they brought little of the truth to what is a fascinating true story. They made a sadly horrific history's retelling boring and mundane. Only two Benders spoke English and I get that could complicate the story telling but why change the age of the brother when it's been almost proven without a doubt Kate was in fact John Benders wife and not his sister. The backfill of assuming the Benders interrelationship was ridiculous and nonsense. Supposedly Kate did readings and touted a gift, but I am sure why they had to play Kate's gift as real and furthermore so strangely creepy. Watchable but I suggest any viewer research the true story of this family.

The true story behind this has such potential, but this movie fell flat.

I gave it two starts because not once did they use shaky-cam, good for that at least.

The acting/actors were very bad. It's so odd to see so many films with poor actors because here in SoCal there are a tremendous amount of talented unknowns.

If you know the true story regarding the Bender family you understand what I mean that a movie on them could be pretty large if done correctly.

At most this movie is only good for background noise while cleaning or cooking, nothing more.