User reviews

As I stumbled upon this 2025 horror movie titled "Brute 1976", and never having heard about it, of course I opted to watch it, as it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. And given my love of all things horror, then I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch what director Marcel Walz had to offer.

Writer Joe Knetter sort of played it safe and cashed in on all the tropes that you most likely already have seen in movies such as "The Hills Have Eyes", "Wrong Turn" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Nothing original here. But hey, if you enjoyed the aforementioned movies, then you will definitely find some enjoyment in "Brute 1976" as well. I found the movie to be watchable, though a bit generic.

While I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, I will say that the acting performances in the movie were good. I do actually enjoy watching unfamiliar and new talents on the screen.

The effects in the movie were actually not bad, and they definitely helped to keep the movie afloat and keeping it watchable.

Watchable for what it was, but "Brute 1976" was not an outstanding foray into the horror movie genre. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time, as there just isn't sufficient contents in the script to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Marcel Walz's 2025 movie "Brute 1976" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

I don't like to hate too much on films like 'Brute 1976'. They've set out to have a good time without being technically perfect or having the polish that a lot of the best genre films are able to achieve. You go in knowing you're not going to get a masterpiece, but you hope for a little better than this.

'Brute 1976' didn't do itself a lot of favours. Firstly it was too long. The pacing was brutal and these were not fun characters to spend extra time with. It would have been well advised to cut 20 minutes out and it would've been easy to do.

The villains could also have used some work. They're too neat and good looking. The movie even has to include a line about this at one point, saying something like, "Evil is on the inside, not the outside."

Then there's just the overall sloppiness. A lot of the movie takes place in broad daylight, so it is rarely scary. The gore doesn't do much to shock either. And the fake jump-scares it tries do not work. 4/10.

Some gore kills, good start, good setting not high quality actors but not bad at all, original kills and killers. Overall an ok movie for a lower budget type of movie. I just hoped they could created a more suiting ending. This one was short and vague. But like I said overall it was not a bad movie.

Marcel Walz and Joe Knetter are back, but unfortunately not in the best way. After That's a Wrap, which already felt rough around the edges, I was looking for some improvement. Instead, Brute 1976 falls even flatter-its direction, writing, and death scenes all through to the end. At least That's a Wrap had some unintentional laughs with its nonsense dialogues, and absurd set up for the murders; this one just left me disengaged.

"OH MY DAYS".what can I say apart from what a load of rubbish, but for some reason I watched it all. It was 1 of them movies that u new what was coming next. The acting was also disgraceful. If u fancy wasting 1hour and 45 minutes then watch this I would rathcer have done my cleaning even though i have a cleaner im just trying 2 get across how bad this movie was. This is only my opinion but im sure thousands will agree .

I gave it four tries, but only got past the lines ,'at least one of us is dying here, o.k all of us ! Thats the most memorable thing here. Trying to make it look from the 70's failed, it just looked lame, the costumes were like bleh. The acting quality was from a 70's porn film (i guess) lol. It tries but fails, the cast of killers were awful mock ups of past famous killers. Just bland.

This is a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Scott Motisko who asked if I'd be interested in seeing the screener. Since I enjoy checking out independent films when making my end of year list, I agreed to check this one out. What is funny is that I watched a majority of it but had to break away. I read part of the press release when updates came in, seeing that he was paying homage to Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven through two of their early classic works.

Synopsis: in 1976, a group of people in the desert for a photo shoot stumbled upon an abandoned town called Savage. But they're not alone. A family of masked psychopaths have claimed it as their own and are hell bent on living up to its name.

In August, Raquel (Gigi Gustin) and June (Bianca Jade Montalvo) are stranded in the desert with a broken car. Raquel, plagued by low self-esteem due to her parents' negativity. June tries to fix their car, but it is unsuccessful. They seek help and find the Savage Mine, where they encounter the psychopaths mentioned in the synopsis.

That's when we shift over to a van of people. Charlie (Robert Felsted Jr.) is its owner and was only hired due to having it. Inside is a photographer, Jordy (Adam Bucci), who arranged this photoshoot for a magazine. Helping him is Sunshine (Sarah French). The model is Roxy (Adriane McLean). She asked her friend Adam (Ben Kaplan) to come along. There's also Ray (Mark Justice) who is wearing short jeans and a shirt that is unbuttoned. Raquel is another model who is supposed to be meeting them.

Decisions get made about what to do about the photo shoot and the missing model. It is around then that they realize they aren't out here alone. This trip out here takes a dark turn as they're picked off one by one and not everyone is who they seem.

Now I decided to cut my recap and introduction to the characters short. I'll go ahead and say here that this is a decent slasher film that is paying homage to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. What is funny is that the former gets directly referenced. The setting up is a variation on both. There being multiple people living out here and attacking anyone that shows up would be as well. I'll also go ahead and say that this has brutal practical effects that made me cringe, so credit there.

With that set up, let's then delve into how I judge slasher films. They need to have either great characters or kills. Ones that have both, tend to be the beloved entries. Let's start with the characters. I like the cold open that feels like it is just to set the stage of the area as well as introduce the villains. It does come back into play as well. That was good. It is from there that we meet the main group of people as they try to survive this isolated group. The characters are distinct where I know who each one is, so that was good.

Looking a bit more at the killers, they aren't as easy to figure who is who name wise. They are inspired by Hills with names like Brutus (Bishop Stevens), Phoenix (Alex Dundas), Zeus (Andreas Robens), Daisy (Jed Rowen) and Mama Birdy (Dazelle Yvette). I love their masks. One killer has a long beard that incorporates in. Another looks demon-like and of course, a bird. I did appreciate that and something that adds a creepy factor.

Let's then shift to discuss the filmmaking aspects. The cinematography effectively conveys the desert's isolation, an excellent choice for an unforgiving climate. The brutal, practical kills and stress-inducing soundtrack are also commendable. However, the excessive runtime, particularly the long lull after the opening, is a significant issue. Trimming the film to under 90 minutes would greatly improve it.

All that is left then to go into would be the acting performances. I thought our main characters were solid and distinct enough. McLean, French, Bucci, Justice, Kaplan and Felsted. Gustin and Montalvo help set the stage with the cold up. They all show good fear, which is all I truly need to help compliment their presentations in this subgenre. I also thought that Stevens, Dundas and Robens bring good size to their roles. Rowen and Yvette also helped to round this out.

In conclusion, this is a commendable slasher film that successfully pays tribute to horror classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. While the runtime could be tighter, the film excels with its distinct characters, chilling villain designs, impressive practical effects and atmospheric cinematography that highlights the unforgiving desert landscape. The performances from the cast, both protagonists and antagonists, effectively convey the terror and brutality inherent in the subgenre. Despite some pacing issues, Brute 1976 delivers a solid horror experience that fans of the sub-genre will appreciate.

My Rating: 6 out of 10.

This "Movie" is pure garbage. There's the short version.

The more detailed version would be that this "Movie" is just a VERY badly done copy of other classic horror films put into a blender with their 20 percent of original ideas and poured into a pan and over baked until it looked like it failed on re-entry.

Example. If I was to say, do you remember that memorable scene at the end of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"? Well the brains behind this movie remembered it...and made sure to do it at least three times.

The script was written by a 10 year old...or an actual adult with the mentality of a 10 year old. The editing is a joke and a lot of scenes needed to end 2-5 seconds sooner, but I'm guessing they wanted this "Movie" to have a longer run time.

Example. The set up for the first two kills are blatant immaturity and work way too hard to be edgy, when it would have been way easier to do a better job while maintaining maturity.

The soundtrack must have been found at Dollar General since it's so cheap and generic. Clearly none of the budget went here. Imagine hearing your most overused horror "setting the mood" clip and then have it on replay for 90 percent of the film. Hell, one scene would have been way more effective if the blaring background sound wasn't basically saying "Hey, look over here!" I guess they didn't think that the audience would find it on their own. When they did (and they would have) the effect would have been a lot more creepy.

I'll throw in some positives since it does have a few. The cinematography is pretty well done most of the time. Whomever was behind the camera knew what they were doing (cannot be bothered to look it up). Hopefully they don't work with this writer/director ever again, since they deserve better.

Adriane McLean and Dazelle Yvette were the stars here. I felt sorry for their performances since the others were borderline okay to down right horrible.

I knew this "Movie" was going to be garbage within the first five minutes. Once you see where the plot goes (which is continuously into a brick wall, over and over again), my "10 year old" comment will make perfect sense. If you want to test your knowledge for what a movie should NOT do, then this "Movie" is for you. Although I can think of better things to do with that 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Oh, and those two high star reviews (1 9 Stars and 1 10 Stars) are clearly from the cast. Who they are is a mystery but they definitely are from the cast (an unfortunate recurring bad trait on this site).

Heading out to the desert, a group of friends hoping to get a new photoshoot underway in the area run afoul of a gang of murderous, masked psychopaths operating in a remote town, killing anyone they come across and forcing them to fight off the creatures to get away alive.

On the whole, this was a fairly solid enough slasher. Among the better qualities on display with the film stems from a truly simplistic and likable throwback-style plot that allows it to capture the spirit and tone of that era. The way it starts up, getting the group stranded in the middle of nowhere while going through the desert and finding the interruption to their shoot is the result of a group of psychopaths in the area living in an abandoned desert town, gets this off to a strong start. The whole idea is pretty cliched as a whole, but it allows for the requisite material to come about where we get to know the group as they wait for their missing friend unaware that she's been kidnapped, a few brief moments with the killer suggesting their intentions with the kidnapped model that allows for some intriguing sequences showing the shoot taking place while the family is torturing her. By the time it gets to the stalking scenes, this is quite impressive and enjoyable, as there's a lot to like there as well. With the opening sequence showing how the kidnapped model gets abducted when she and a friend get stranded in their ghost town home and encounter the family, the chase to get her back after an escape attempt, and it only gets better once they arrive at the abandoned town themselves. This extended series of setpieces brings together a lot of rather fun elements, from brutal over-the-top kills, some suspenseful stalking scenes, and a great use of the eeriness of the location to help build the idea of what's going on. The series of reveals and revelations about all of this makes for a generally fun time as it takes a series of left turns and unexpected diversions regarding who the tribe really is and what their purpose is all about, leading to some fun along the way and plenty of solid encounters packed with gore, giving this a lot to like. There are some factors here that hold this one down. The main issue present in this one stems from an overlong and unnecessary running time that takes this one far too long to get going. The opening attack in the underground mines takes over ten minutes to resolve when it had no business doing so, the group dynamics at the photoshoot are full of individual moments that could've been sniped for being unnecessary to what's being told, and the general structure of the finale makes it feel somewhat meandering with its revelations merely to generate the kind of enhanced confrontations that are nothing more than excuses to keep the film running for as long as it does. That comes together in the final half, where the full revelations are just insanely stupid and focus on so many different ideas about the family that make a rather complicated setup that doesn't need to be, keeping this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language, Nudity, and drug use.

Do you remember Tobe Hopper' seminal "Texas Chain Saw Massacre"?

Marcel Walz most definitely does, and has subsequently decided to become the most recent filmmaker to try his hand at crafting an "homage" to the iconic 1974 film.

With the end result being absolutely dreadful.

The biggest issue with the thing is that it's shot and edited without an ounce of flow or urgency. People just lumpers in and out of frame, or disappear outright during the chase sequences. The kills and gore are amateurishly handled, utterly lacking any kind of impact or effectiveness in its presentation. Adding to the misery is a bloated runtime of a grating hour and fourth five minutes, a punishing ordeal that the viewer will feel every agonising second of.

I rarely go for 1/10 reviews anymore, but this thing was seriously testing my last nerve.

If I were to offer a speck of positivity in regards to this horrid movie, it would be to highlight the performance of lead actress Adriane McLean as she represents the lone spark of competence in this sea of VOD Sewage waste.

Don't waste your time with this, you'll be better served revisiting the original classic or its many sequels. Hell, give Ti West' fantastic "X" a go, but leave this piece of TCM inspired roadkill in the ditch where it belongs.

Just watched this last night on VOD! Been a fan of Marcel Walz since his "Blood Feast" remake, and a huge fan of Sarah French since like, well Always lol! This one is another winner for both of them! It's a lovingly-constructed homage to 70's grind house/slasher-survival films, in particular, Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and Wes Craven's " The Hills Have Eyes"! A magazine-cover shooting crew unluckily runs afoul of a clan of depraved killers in an abandoned Nevada desert-town, and things go... Badly! The film makes some interesting observations on the sociopolitical state of society and humanity as it stands in 1976 America, and throws in a few interesting twists! Definitely a Great watch, and worth the time for Horror-Fans, and Sarah French fans!

I started watching this film because I thought there was a love and survival story a bit like in the two lesbian girls Rachel and a little june as happens in films (Feral) just to give an example but instead with so much sadness here the lesbians are only slaughter meat! Honestly, I don't even know how to imagine because they inserted them we already have enough lesbians killed in the TV series and in many films that at least here they could create something different!

From the cinematography to the practical effects, this is a required viewing from a skilled director who is only going to continue rising with every opportunity.

Acting is shockingly good, even from a powerhouse cast, and the storyline (no spoilers!) is exciting and kept me guessing every step of the way.

I look forward to whatever comes next from these very talented filmmakers.

The film is set in 1976, and I like the drone shot as we move into the introduction sequence. The intro sequence is a great hook to pull the viewer in. June (played by Bianca Jade Montalvo) and her girlfriend Raquel (played by Gigi Gustin) are heading to a photo shoot, when they are diverted to a ghost town called Savage, after their car breaks down. The horror and gore scenes are excellent, gruelling, and brutal. It isn't called Brute for no reason. This slasher pays homage to many similar troupes and films of carnage out in the isolated desert, in particular we are instantly drawn into the surrounding landscape of rocky hills, an abandoned mining ghost town, and brings to mind slasher films of the 70s, such as, The Hills have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Ed Gein the murderer. The setting of Savage and its derelict feeling helps to set the tone. The moments we see the terror and hear the vicious screams of Raquel as we progress through the film, really ramps the horror up in an appalling way.

Meanwhile, a group of people head out into the baron wastelands, only to find they have to fight for their lives to survive against a family of reclusive masked maniacs who call this place their safe place, their home. The brutality is riveting but also visceral due to the closeup body shots of gore and horror. I have to commend the makeup and costumes, the special effects - as they produced an authentic looking sequence of murder, body parts, copious amounts of blood, internal organs, decapitation scenes; the beauty is in the believability. Some of the scenes made my stomach turn. Which I would expect to happen in a film of this type.

There are a few interesting threads woven into the storyline, which is well fleshed out by the end of the film. Roxy (played by Adriane McLean) is falling in love with her friend Adam (played by Ben Kaplan) which adds the typical love theme of the slasher era into the film's storyline. Charlie (played by Robert Felsted Jr.) is an interesting character and is the driver of the orange VW minivan. Sunshine (played by Sarah French) the makeup artist on set seems to be a friendly character, and she plays a central role in the film as you will discover. We are introduced to Mama Birdie (played by Dazelle Yvette) at Savage, and she is a barbaric character, adding a sinister element to enhance the film.

The twists and turns towards the end caught me off guard and really ramped the tension and suspense up to the maximum. It's a medium paced film, in that I think everything was well contained. Some of the scenes had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how it would all play out. I got the feeling this is not as serious as such other films of this type, but then when the graphic depictions of desecration gave me moments of profound terror in such scenes as, when Ray (played by Mark Justice) is in the restroom. He learns soon enough that sticking your private bits into holes in the walls is never a good idea! Jordy (played by Adam Bucci) has a misadventure after snooping in places he shouldn't. The ending sequence is great, in that there are a couple of major twists to end the film. I believe the lessons here are to not venture into locations that are rumoured to be inbred country, and they should have learned the life lesson if only they'd taken heed after watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they purported to have watched.

Overall, I highly recommend this film if you like 70s slashers, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's always thrilling to see an indie film of this caliber, as it feels and looks like a Hollywood production, however this is another golden gem of indie films at its best.

Reviewed by Del Gibson from HORROR CENTRAL.

I've been looking forward to this one for awhile now! With being a Marcel Walz fan I figured this one would be fun and outrageous!

I like that he uses mostly the same people in his movies probably because they understand his style of filmmaking.

This one you van tell was inspired by films like The Hills Have Eyes and Te as Chainsaw Massacre.

The cast did a remarkable job as well.

The kills and gore weren't as particularly nasty as what I was thinking it was going to be, but it ended up being just the right amount of carnage for this type of film.

Now if you have some of the directors other work, then you shouldn't be surprised to see a scene of male genitalia mutilation that's briefly shown in this.

Anyways excited for the next installment and looking forward to seeing his other movie called Garden of Eden!!

One movie I would love to see director Marcel Walz tackle next would be an updated version of the 70s horror thriller Tourist Trap!!!

A slasher-comedy film that adds questionable elements and fails to shine despite its setting. It's more of a tribute than anything else.

"Brute 1976" is a difficult watch due to its premise, which tries its best to deliver a surprise but fails. It's a film that focuses more on paying homage (even in its poster) than on offering sustainable originality, drawing elements from older movies to establish a connection with the viewer-but does it really work? In my experience, not at all, but I respect those who do. It's a film that relies on the absurd, the forced, and the unnecessarily exaggerated; I emphasize that, despite its slasher genre context, its execution throughout is entirely pyrrhic. They generate nothing more than disappointment and secondhand embarrassment.

The film isn't afraid to reflect its inspiration; in fact, it incorporates it into the characters' dialog and the light comedy added to the performances. Even so, taking elements from "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes" and not executing them sustainably and/or squandering that opportunity is another debatable point regarding its production merits.

Director Marcel Walz does his best to deliver something entertaining, which may be possible. It employs genre-typical framing, and you could say it's fine, tho it's nothing surprising. Questionable due to various scenes, but it all depends on your expectations. Without a doubt, everything related to his work could have been better.

"Brute 1976" has elements in its script that make it debatable. Somewhat absurd, implausible plot twists are employed, lacking depth in both the characters and the story as a whole. Here, there's no established interest to foster that connection between viewer and characters; you really don't care what happens. The various "nuances" they implement seem like a mockery even of their own characters. On the other hand, everything is predictable, it's riddled with insecurities, it fails to capitalize on its inspirations, there are plot holes, and conventionality is present at every turn. It's a film that you can't salvage, whether as a slasher or a comedy.

Among its cinematic aspects, I can only highlight its setting. It's the only point that, taken with a grain of salt, might have a decent execution; the rest is up for debate. As for the performances, well, it's sheer agony; I suppose they're doing the best they can with that comedic approach, but even within that framework they fail to deliver anything noteworthy. They feel empty, flat, simple, forced, exaggerated, and really mediocre, to be honest. Perhaps actress Dazelle Yvette (Mama Birdy) was the only one who understood the forced concept of her character.

The film attempts to address themes of betrayal, deception, split personalities, self-preservation, manipulation, lack of communication, loss of sanity, the representation of death or evil, and the psychopathic angle, but it fails to effectively explore each established concept, thus becoming yet another wasted opportunity in its overall experience. It throws that potential overboard.

In addition, the film contains a large number of continuity errors and flaws in the dialogue's arguments, which further undermine the movie's attempt. Many of those flaws are so obvious you can't believe it. The idea here is not to take this production seriously, because the result can be unsatisfactory in capital letters.

Something isn't right when there's such a mismatch between the reviewed ratings and the non-reviewed ratings. This movie's rating should be somewhere between 6-7, not the 4 as it is presently.

Brute 1976 is a fun retro horror movie that has a bit of nudity, violence, gore. In other words, everything your want in a horror movie.

Things start out very promising with two cute hippie girls who end up stranded in the desert. They go to look for help on foot and end up discovering a mine, where they decide to have some sexy fun until some masked guys show up.

Unfortunately as often happens with movies that go for nudity, it is filmed in such a way that there's not much too see. Here it's dark in the mine, and they use those lenses or effects where any light causes a bright horizontal line across the screen. A shame really.

Then a group of two girls, who are supposed to be models but look nothing like models, and four dull guys drive out the location for a photo shoot. They run into some lady who has bought the old empty town to turn it into a tourist attraction but a superhighway was built nearby effectively killing her plans. She warns them not to cross the street. Of course they do and run into the masked maniacs.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the main inspiration here and also gets mentioned by the characters.

In the end we do learn what's going on with the bunch of crazies and what they are about.

Brute 1976 is a pretty ambitious movie. The running time of nearly 1:45 hours is excessive and unnecessary though. With horror, a tighter movie is always better than a drawn out one. Gigi Gustin steals the show as one of the cute hippie girls who unfortunately is absent for most of the movie. Her acting also stands out.

Unfortunately the 6 photo shoot folks aren't particularly interesting nor attractive. More of a sense of dread is missing as well.

What I particularly enjoyed is that this is a horror movie that takes place in broad daylight. Any other crew would have decided no doubt to film most of this movie inside the mine and at night.

Overall this is a strong B movie. B+ I would say. Many are turned off by the "B movie" label but this is solid work that shouldn't keep you from watching it if you are into horror. It has the budget, good cinematography, sound, effects. Unfortunately it also has the typical Hollywood current day politics that are retroactively applied to 1976.