Madison County

Do YOU like disjointed, nonsensical films where the characters behave stupidly and unrealistically, where the "plot" is an excuse for some highly unimaginative killings of tedious bad actors whom you won't care to root for, and which end abruptly without any sense of closure? Well, then, Madison County may just be for you! Even by slasher movie standards, this is extremely weak. When the end credits popped up, I strongly felt that the word "written" in "Written and Directed by" should have been in heavy quote marks, as the script and continuity feel quite haphazard.

Low budget horror can be more inventive and interesting than its A-list counterparts, or it can be ... well, this.

Madison County doesn't have an original plot, or anything special in terms of effects or storytelling. What it does have is capable acting, good cinematography and sound, and a decent score on scares and gore without really resorting to exploitation. If you adjust for the low budget, Madison County is massively successful in what it tries to do. If you don't, it's still fine as a slasher-y version of Deliverance.

Just as the market was glutted with slasher films during the initial wave of the sub genre in the early 1980s, now we're being inundated with many modern homages made by people who are big fans of those films. Unfortunately, with some of these films we're not getting anything we haven't seen many times before. And "Madison County" is one of those films. It's underwhelming, even boring, with fairly likable but extremely unmemorable characters, a sorry screenplay, and, worst of all, unimaginative set pieces. The story has a young man named James (Colley Bailey) working on a thesis and travelling to redneck country to interview an author with whom he's been in contact. The author had written a true crime book about murders in his neck of the woods, and, what do you know, the killer is still alive and well and intending to do some serious damage. About the only good thing I can say is that Robert Halls' Almost Human company does well with the gore; very undemanding fans of this sort of thing will enjoy the brutality. The pig mask that our killer Damien (Nick Principe) wears is also good for a mild chuckle. Writer / director Eric England spends quite a bit of time establishing situation and character, which is fine and good, except that the action, when it comes, isn't worth that much set-up. This thing only runs 82 minutes, and in all honesty it might have worked better in an even shorter format. The acting is not so hot from all concerned, although to be fair they don't have particularly good dialogue to recite. The girls are attractive, and it might have helped if they'd shown a bit more skin. All things considered, I could only recommend this if you just CAN'T get enough of rural horror. It's poor stuff, all the way until its unsatisfactory ending. Four out of 10.

Madison County's biggest fault as a horror film is not what it does but, what it doesn't do. And that is deviate at all from the backwoods horror sub-genre formula. The movie follows the cliché' blueprint of getting five attractive twenty-somethings to a secluded rural area where they can be placed in proximity with the trademarked deranged locals. In this case they are going to research a book about a serial killer who may, or may not exist in secluded rustic Madison County. Director/writer Eric England seems to have seen enough of these films to put one together competently on a technical level. There is some nice production value for a flick reportedly made for around $70,000. The visuals are fine and creepy and he does create some nice atmosphere and some tension.His cast of young attractive characters are likable enough and there is some blood once things get going. But, England follows the formula so closely that there aren't many surprises. You know the locals are suspicious and strange for a reason and that there really is no question as to whether the killer really exists. His leads while likable are not overly interesting. The locals are generic creepy hillbillies and the villains are never given enough screen time to build their characters and thus aren't that frightening. They never rise above the cliché' evil redneck stereotype and we just can't generate enough interest in them to care or be afraid. Even the pig masked killer, Damien Ewell, that is the main nut job, is very ho hum even when on the attack. It's as if England thought a pig mask was enough to create character and menace. And, as far as these films go, Madison County is bit too tame. In this case a little over the top would have been welcome as nothing grabs us, shocks us or horrifies us. There is blood but, it is basically some routine stabbings and ax wounds. And since we've waited till the last act to get to the good stuff, we feel a bit cheated by what little we get and how soon it's over. (With credits County is barely over 80 minutes.) If you are going to present a classic scenario like this, shake things up a bit (ex. Cabin In The Woods). Or at the very least, throw all the classic elements at us with a bit of good old fashioned ferocity. For a horror flick, Madison County is far too laid back. No, I don't think Eric England is a bad filmmaker, he can create tension and atmosphere and I've seen far worse then his Madison County but, he needs to learn that innovation is far more effective then imitation when it comes to the horror movies he obviously enjoys. And if you can't innovate, throw some blood and carnage in our faces to keep us awake. Madison County is still a mildly enjoyable horror but, I think England has the potential to deliver much more.

Or was that away from the mill? There's no mill here of course. This still fits perfectly in the slasher genre formula. The teens, the baddie and a few other "surprises". The story is not really something to get too excited about. Unfortunately the gore/blood scenes are not that top notch either. Combine that with below the average acting from most connected to this and you get something you don't really have to watch.

Don't start to wonder why character behave certain ways or why logic and reason will never apply to those kids/teens depicted in most of those movies (especially the ones at the bottom of the barrel). If it has to be a slasher movie, there are far better ones out there for you to choose from.