Cry for the Bad Man

Even the Horror Channel has plumbed new depths by showing this dross..An embarrassing failure on every level. The scene where they're shown drinking from clearly empty beer bottles is particularly awful. Absolute waste of time.

Camille Keaton returns to defend herself in Cry for the Bad man, a low-budget grindhouse-style home-invasion film set largely in a remote house on a dead end drive.

Keaton is of course famous for starring as Jennifer Hills in thew original I Spit on Your Grave, which sees her taking extreme revenge against a gang of small town men who assaulted her. Keaton's character here has a different name, but it is easy to see her as an older version of Jennifer.

But even with a relatively short running time of 74 minutes, some scenes just drag on. A lot of the dialogue verges on inane as the director seems to be stalling to pad the film out to feature length.

The acting earns about a c+, and a few gore effects at least should satisfy horror fans.

But unless you are a fan of former fashion model and cult actress Camille Keaton and want to see her in a substantial role still defending herself against all comers while in her 70s, this one is skippable.

The story is a less than straightforward thriller that starts off with cool artistic shots of apparent tragedy. It really opens up to the more tension based thriller that it is soon there after. The concept isn't new, and "Cry For The Bad Man" clearly pays tribute to early 70's grindhouse. Most of what the film showcases is classic "woman versus bad man" suspense mixed with a lot of carnage.

The acting isn't stellar, but it maintains a strong enough presence to create recognizable characters, if not cliche, so that the story flows. There isn't a lot of down time or clunkiness to "Cry For The Bad Man". Exposition is minimal, straightforward and substantive. The dialog is short and direct and the overall story arc is entertaining to watch unfold.

The special effects are quality, practical effects and atmospheric suspenseful moments of tension. Shadowy scenes blend with gunfire and bloodshed. All of which is very reminiscent of classic grindhouse. Although "Cry For The Bad Man" isn't at the top of it's game, minor scenes where some characters lose momentum, it is a good, intense, and brutal genre piece worth checking out.

Just watched the UK TV premiere of this under the title "The Last House", but under any name it's a stinker. Camille Keaton starred in the original and very notorious "I Spit on Your Grave". Here she is again, taking on a bunch of no good country guys, but this time instead of rape they are after her property, which she stubbornly refuses to sell. Things get violent. Very violent. There is some very graphic gore on show by way of shotgun blasts and knives, although the effects aren't terribly special they still pack a punch. Which is about the only good thing on offer here. The acting and script are atrocious, despite the movie's relatively short running time some scenes feel like slow motion. And despite being a violent home invasion movie I found it more funny than scary, some moments had me laughing out loud. One guy (they are all brothers, by the way) gets shot in the stomach, his guts are hanging out but instead of calling for medical help the one brother simply gets the first aid kit out and then tells him to get on with the job! Another has his right hand blown off but it is clearly still there underneath the bandage. And so on, and so on. I'm scoring this crap 3/10, if it wasn't for the gore then it would be less. Oh, and the over the top soundtrack just adds to the amusement. Cry for the Bad Man? More like Cry, this is a Bad Movie!

The paper thin story is not really worth mentioning. But it is not that other movies have not been able to do something with it - run with it and make it an entertaining, sometimes even fun ride. Now this takes itself too seriously but most important can not convince in most if not all the departments. Maybe you can say that it looks ok/good visually. And maybe you can say that the main bad guy has some charisma.

Maybe you suspend your disbelief and like the main character/heroine too, But there are too many maybes. There is also a lot of bad behavior - and I don't mean that morally speaking (although that too), but logically speaking. Then again, just because someone is a bad guy doesn't mean he (or she) would know how to behave - or always do the proper and logical thing.

Still more likely than not, you will be annoyed by most of the things happening. Even some of the effects are not helping - especially when you cut it together as if you are experimenting - that would be if you are cutting this some slack ... otherwise you'd use other vocabulary.