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The Slaughtered Bird Review: “Lost After Dark”

Spring Ball, 1984. Adrienne (Kendra Timmins, Midnight Sun, Wingin’ It), a straight-A student, joins her quarterback crush Sean (Justin Kelly, Maps To The Stars, Big Muddy) and some friends in sneaking out of their high school dance for some unsupervised mayhem. The teens’ party plans hit a snag when they run out of gas on a deserted road. They head out on foot and discover a rundown farmhouse where they hope to find help, but instead find themselves at the mercy of Junior Joad (Mark Wiebe, Sweet Karma), a cannibal killer from an urban legend. After the brutal murder of one of their friends, the group s quest for help becomes one of survival. Will anyone survive the night?

 

I am not going to go into any more plot details here because the synopsis above has it covered to had more to it would only ruin the film for those wanting to see it. If you remember and loved slasher movies from the 80’s then you are in for a real treat here. The film is not perfect by any means but I had a lot fun with this throwback to the 80’s. From the music to the clothing I swore I was back in the 80’s once again. There are some great killings but the film doesn’t take itself too serious either so there are some good laughs along the way as well. Robert Patrick is fantastic as the over the top principal of the school. He had me cracking up every time he showed up on screen, I wish he would of had a little more screen time. The rest of the cast all did a terrific job in the film as well.

 

If I had one complaint it would be about the killer. I thought he could have been a little more scary and intimidating looking. Besides that I thought the film had just about everything it needed including lots of cool kills and some good blood and guts as well. So if you are a fan of slasher films then I highly recommend checking this one out. It certainly brings back the 80’s in bloody style.

 

“Lost After Dark” can best be described as good old fashion fun. I hope they do a sequel to this one and perhaps work on a little better killer. Either way this is one of the best 80’s style horror films to come along in some time.

 

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Horror News Network “Lost After Dark” – Review

Rating: 8 out of 10

 

Synopsis: In this clever homage to 80’s slasher films, a group of teenagers looking to party get stranded when their ride breaks down, and end up being stalked by a cannibalistic killer.

 

Our Thoughts: ‘Lost After Dark’ is one of the best homages to the 80’s I’ve ever seen. It captures the spirit of the slashers of the time, and adds it’s only touches with amusing characters.

 

The story starts with a glimpse of a teen being murdered in the 70’s by a mysterious killer. The film then fast-forwards to 1984. A group of kids get together following a dance and head to a cabin for a party, when their bus breaks down near the original murder took place. Meanwhile, the killer had taken his home back from the current resident of the house, creating the worst situation possible for the teens. When they take refuge in the empty house and begin to discover the secrets of the owner, things take a creepy turn.

 

Considering the fact that this is a throw-back slasher, the acting is great. Robert Patrick gives an amusing performance as Mr. C. Elise Gatien gives is outstanding as terrified teen Jamie. From 80’s style music, to big hair, the film captures the styles and charm of the era. The technology limitations of the time are played up with a few seconds of “missing reel”. A good amount of gore, along with a mix of classic style slasher kills with creative new ones, make this horror flick an entertaining way to spend a Saturday night for any horror fan!

 

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Local Filmmakers Revisit a Gory Cinematic Decade

While the 1980s might be most commonly associated with new wave, hair metal and Sylvester Stallone sequels, it was also the decade of the slasher film, with fictitious characters such as Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger becoming household names. While the decade and its accompanying splatter-filled genre have been the subject of both satire and tribute, a new film courtesy of a local director and producer is making waves as being one of the most authentic representations of the ‘80s slasher genre in quite some time.

 

Recently, The Suburban spoke with director Ian Kessner and producer Eric Gozlan to find out about their new retro film, Lost After Dark, which was recently released by Anchor Bay on DVD and Blu-ray.
“After Scream, which was amazing, you just had so many bad imitators,” says Kessner of the state of throwback horror films over the last two decades. “I wanted to make it feel like you were actually in the theatre, in the ‘80s, watching the movie.”

 

The film takes place during spring, 1984, as a group of teens sneaks away from their high school dance, only to stumble across a rundown farmhouse which just so happens to be the home of Junior Joad; a cannibal killer from an urban legend. After the brutal murder of one of their friends, the group seeks only to survive the night. “We though it would be fun to do something that’s authentic and that really captures these films with a bit of a contemporary feel as well,” says Gozlan.

 

Kessner and Gozlan, who grew up in and around Côte-Saint-Luc, are admittedly both horror fans, with Kessner especially bordering on the edge of fanaticism from a very early age. “My mother’s water broke while she was watching Whatever Happened to Alice, so I basically kicked out in the middle of a horror film,” he says.

 

With a clear vision in mind, Kessner says he was given more or less free reign from Gozlan.

 

“We had a tight schedule, we only had so much money but we got it done,” says Kessner. “Eric let me just do my thing.”

 

Because the film is a Canadian production made possible partially because of Heritage Fund investment, only one non-Canadian actor could be featured in the film and that would end up being none other than silver screen veteran Robert Patrick — best known for his roles in Terminator 2, The X Files and the current From Dusk Till Dawn TV series on Netflix.

 

“We love Robert,” says Kessner. “He was our first choice. We had him for four days. He really loved the script and got the material and understood the tome right away. He had very light days. It worked out well. We didn’t bring him in here and work him like a dog. The guy is a pro.”

 

After his last day on set, Kessner says that Patrick had a particularly funny encounter with a random patron in a nearby diner.

 

“Somebody looked up and said, ‘Hey, you look like the Terminator,’ and Robert answered, ‘I AM the terminator.’ The whole place went bananas.”

 

Filmed in Sudbury, Ontario, Kessner says Lost After Dark follows in the rich tradition of Canadian-produced horror.

 

“So many of the slashers from the golden age were actually Canadian productions, pretending to be American, which I thought was really fun,” he says. “That was part of the in-joke of Sudbury playing the location of Michigan. There’s a scene in the movie where [a character proclaims] ‘This is America!’”

 

“Standoff” Trailer With Laurence Fishburne and Thomas Jane

Laurence Fishburne is one of the most versatile actors working today. Which is why it looks interesting to see him playing a type of character that he hasn’t really tackled before in the trailer forStandoff. He seems to go full sadistic psycho pretty well.

 

Thomas Jane co-stars in the film from Adam Alleca. No release date yet.

 

Synopsis

 
Combat veteran Carter Greene (Jane) lives alone in a rustic farmhouse where he grieves the death of his young son and the resulting failure of his marriage. Meanwhile, Bird is an orphan who’s experienced too much loss for somebody so young. As Bird mourns her parents on the anniversary of their death, she watches a professional assassin storm the graveyard and kill a group of funeral goers. Terrified, Bird springs into the woods, followed closely by the sadistic assassin Sade (Fishburne). She eventually takes shelter in Carter’s farmhouse, where Carter vows to protect her and avenge the murder of her family.

 

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