Sawed Off

I hadn't heard about this 2022 horror movie titled "Sawed Off" prior to getting the chance to sit down and watch it. And the movie's synopsis definitely sounded interesting, almost like a horror comedy, so of course I had to sit down and watch what writers Jody Barton, Hunter Johnson and Chuck Wagner had to offer.

Well, while the concept of the story was interesting, then the movie itself was just a stiffle too mundane. Director Hunter Johnson just didn't manage to churn out something outstanding or memorable here. Sure, "Sawed Off" can be watched for what it turned out to be, but this was hardly a movie that I will be recommending to horror fans, nor is it a movie that I will watch again.

The acting performances in the movie were fair enough. Sure, you're not in for any award-winning performances, and the cast ensemble is very small. But I will say that Jody Barton, Trae Ireland and Eva Hamilton managed to carry the movie well enough.

The special effects in "Sawed Off" were for the majority good enough for a movie of this budget, ambition and caliber.

All in all, if you enjoy horror movies there might be something for you to enjoy here in "Sawed Off". Just because I wasn't particularly entertained doesn't mean you won't be. I will be honest and say that it definitely felt like a movie that was made with a lot of passion and commitment.

My rating of "Sawed Off" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

If you watch it and expect a straight up scary or gore fest horror film I think you'll be let down . It's a lower budget comedy horror with some decent acting especially by Trae Ireland I think that's his name the black dude anyway some moments we both actually laughed pretty hard.vthe premise had a little uniqueness to it that went into a basic horror formula that brought it down a few notches. I'd probably give it a 6 or 6.5 but due to the extremely unfair and obvious amateur horror reviews we kicked it up aittle to off set the low 4 imdb rating. Horror is probably the hardest genre especially now because it's so popular that you get a new 1 every week and the story's are getting harder and harder to be unique so we just base our review scores on is it ENTERTAINING and this film was definitely that. Watch it you'll get a few laughs and that to me is worth it right there!!

Act One is the talky part: Marjorie (Eva Hamilton) invites two exes -- pals Jon (Jody Barton) and Frank (Trae Ireland) -- to her woodland cabin where the guys intend to do some hunting. The three friends chat a lot, the dialogue either improvised or very badly written: it's largely incoherent rambling, with some terrible overdubbing. It's not a great start to the film.

Act Two is much more entertaining. The two men go hunting, but Jon is affected by a strange force and accidentally shoots Frank dead. Things take an even darker turn when a duplicate Frank, not happy with being shot, appears and stabs Jon in retaliation. Jon also returns from the dead, and the pair take it in turns to kill each other, a living duplicate of each man appearing shortly after. It's not clear what is causing this supernatural phenomenon, but it's a lot of fun, Frank shooting Jon and planting an axe in his skull, and Jon chopping off Frank's arm and chainsawing off his head.

Act Three is totally baffling: Marjorie turns into a bargain basement deadite (no prosthetic make-up, just bad face paint), shags Jon in the woods, and introduces him to a horned tree demon in a fur coat that promises immortality in exchange for consuming Frank -- or something like that.

4/10 -- just about worth watching for the middle act, which features some reasonable practical gore effects.

Embarking on a hunting trip together, a pair of friends head out into the wilderness to spend some time together with a girlfriend they're both interested in, but as the trip goes on they realize their issues bring about violent tendencies that enable them to kill each other although they can't technically die.

There was a lot to like about this one. One of the better elements of this one comes from the highly effective setup that provides a fantastic grounding for the wacky adventures to come. The initial starting plan offers up the friends attempting to recapture their old relationship on the trip who are clearly at odds with each other and need to work through a series of issues as to why they can come back together as friends is a worthwhile and realistic place to go off. Mixing in her apprehension of doing anything that will bring old wounds to the surface despite all the antagonism on display here between them and the story involving the curse on the land from the Indian tribe who lived there that offers up the most realistic explanation for what's going on and everything comes off quite fun. That provides the film with a great playground to play with the premise of the two going back and forth taking each other out. The idea of them being unable to kill each other and having a physical copy of the body remain dead on the ground despite them still being able to walk around like normal just with the wound of what just happened to them affixed to the new body, the resultant series of encounters here become quite fun and brutal with the amount of carnage unleashed on both of them. As the whole effort goes into a more character-driven finale that brings their relationship issues back to the forefront here while still playing somewhat with the cursed land trope at play, there's quite a lot to like here that holds it up for the most part. The film does have a few minor issues. The main drawback to be had here is the film's setup which never comes across as all that clear as to what's happened. This is partly due to the setup featuring a lot of storyline points to work out which all could end up being the cause of their affliction rather than giving a straightforward answer. Offering up the storyline explanations that are all plausible enough as to what's happening but never clarifying how it's all playing out makes this one feel somewhat confusing as the fact that all of them work out can't happen since several of these playing out conceals others. Had it settled on a definitive outcome for what's happening that would've brought the film's confusion down quite significantly. The other issue here is the films' slight drawbacks that come about due to the low-budget limitations imposed. It shouldn't be much of a stretch to say the effects and gore are typical low-budget indie-style features that is highlighted not only with the victims' severed limb but also comes off as incredibly obviously with the revelation of the demonic figure controlling them which means the film needs to showcase a goofy and underwhelming creature that's wisely kept to the shadows since the looks we get at it are somewhat silly. The lack of interaction with anyone and staying at one location the entire time is pretty much the big final setup that provides the obvious touch here that all ends up bringing this down slightly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.