The Barn

This is a pretty decent indie film. It was fun and ridiculous all behind the back drop of an 80's retro storyline (complete with a 80's glam band score.) I won't give any spoilers away but this is an enjoyable Halloween movie that doesn't take itself too seriously.

So the movie is pretty cheesy and campy, but that was also clearly the intent. I thought it was hilarious.

I really wanted to like this movie more...

I've been eyeing this for sometime while it was being crowdfunded on indiegogo. Finally got a chance to watch and was very disappointed. Here are my issues.

My biggest draw to the film was that it was hyped on being a perfect 80s throwback to the VHS era of slashers. They do an OK job with the music, but I wasn't convinced with the film actually taking place in the 80s. The actors just look like modern kids going to an 80s party and they picked out 80s clothes as best as they could from a thrift store. The film itself has cheesy 80s filters that do not not feel genuine.

The practical effects were ehhh. Obviously done on an extremely low budget. Mix of practical and digital that reminds me of movies like Thankskilling. Appreciate the effort though.

Acting was pretty flat and I didn't care for any of the characters. Again super low budget. Even has a cameo with Linnea Quigley who's a seasoned scream queen, but you would have guessed this was her first time on screen.

The story, to be fair has some cool concepts, but gets drawn out way too long. I honestly think I would have been way more excepting of The Barn if it was just a quick short film or part of an anthology.

The only reason I gave this 2 stars was for the movie artwork and merchandise they put out. The art is awesome and alludes to a well polished/stylized film. It is enough to make you want to watch it, but that's about where it ends unfortunately.

To wrap... this is more than just low budget, it's DIY. Many of the other reviews seem like they are connected to the film and are obviously biased. If you are OK with DIY then you may be able to look past a lot of it's flaws, but be warned there are many.

The movie itself was very amateur...the dialogue, acting, story line...everything screams amateur...except the score and soundtrack, that was a great, retro, horror movie score. The action scenes are too short...left me wanting more...it was like there was a build up to each, then they were over in two hits. It really didn't hold my interest, but I did like the idea of the movie, it just needed to be fleshed out a little more. Overall, nice attempt at a horror movie throwback to the 80's, but not spectacular.

The music, however was very well done for such a low budget film. The soundtrack and score were both pretty good, I was impressed and that's the main reason for writing the review...the score and soundtrack deserved a shout out.

I can tell I'm going to love a movie within the first five minutes.i really cannot praise this film enough. This movie was amazing. It's got definite 80s horror vibes , it's clear that a lot of heart and soul and love for a dying genre went into making this. Wonderful feelings of nostalgia. It's shot wonderfully, it's creative, the characters are likable, the costumes and makeup are fantastic, amazing soundtrack , the acting is great in my opinion, I mean it's a throwback to 80s horror. Everything in this movie is perfect. It's cheesy over the top outlandish goofy gruesome and a general horror masterpiece. Definitely DEFINITELY worth a watch and then several more .