Cry for the Bad Man

Samuel Farmer's far from subtle 'Cry for the Bad Man' (2019) aka 'The Last House' sure 'aint gonna win any high-falutin' prizes for boldly re-inventing the cinematic wheel, but so help me, I really dug on this low budget, bloodily ballistic, mongoose nasty little B-Movie! And the sublimely sinister shotgun siren Camille Keaton is still one awesomely delicious death dealer! Just like the immortal retrograde rapscallion 'Ralphus', this grisly grindhouse gut-spiller is short, direct and gruesomely sweet! And there was something wholly edifying about watching the indomitable Keaton gorily High-Nooning these home-invading skells! 'If you try to wolf your way into Camille's Home Sweet Home, she's gonna' put a hot mess of bullets into ya' dome!' Like good whisky, fiesty red-headed Exploitation Icon Camille Keaton didn't get old, she just got better!

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.

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.

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.

Wanting to take over her property, a recently-widowed homeowner is forced to fight back when the sons of a real-estate mogul in her small-town home arrive at her house intending to force her to sell to them, leading to a deadly cat-and-mouse game of survival and control of the house.

There wasn't much to like about this one. The film's only real good qualities come from the fact that this gets to the invasion incredibly quickly and continues on for nearly the rest of the film. As a series of cat-and-mouse chasing around the house blasting the place to pieces trying to get the upper hand, this gets incredibly fun when you realize that for one the home-owner has the drop on the intruders and is able to hold her own against the dim-witted sons who are outmatched and ill-equipped for the ensuing fight resulting in some brutal gore pieces. However, that provides the key for one of the main flaws here as there's no tension or suspense in a film where the hero has the advantage over the villains for just about the entire running time since they never have any kind of advantage in the situation. As well, the entire plotline and general setup for the film is entirely cliche and predictable. Nothing about the group makes them intimidating or threatening, and the idea of taking forever to get to the finale due to the incompetence of the three of them simply standing around talking with her instead of doing anything to try to get their way makes for a dull time. The motivation of going after her house for the land because they're doing a housing development in the area is completely obvious and illogical, while the strategy of going after the house against his father's wishes anyway is simply pointless considering all the talk about trying to be better men rather than losers. It all makes for a frustrating and underwhelming experience despite the frequent activity going on.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.