Director: Christopher Ray
Writer: Victoria Dadi, Christopher M Don (Screenplay)
Starring: William Baldwin, Richard Grieco, Bill Moseley, Viva Bianca, Christopher Judge, John Hennigan, Dominique Swain, Mercy Malick
Plot: On the cusp of New Year’s Eve, seven friends and a mysterious backpacker converge at a desolate ski lodge in the mountains when they are systematically hunted down by ruthless masked men with a cryptic agenda.
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun Bloodbath
Story: Minutes to Midnight starts when seven friends led by Sophia (Fletcher) head up to a ski lodge for New Year’s Eve for a party, they are joined by backpacker Travis Crenna (Hennigan) who is in search for his lost brother in the same area. The mountains are not a safe area though with Gimple (Moseley) and his murderous group collecting victims to torture.
When an impending storm puts the party on hold in the eyes of Ranger Taso (Judge) and Sheriff Wyatt (Grieco) who look to keep the town’s people safe and soon the night turns into battle to survive.
Thoughts on Minutes to Midnight
Characters – Mr Walters runs the town, he lives an isolated life when not working with his team, though he does seem to know more about the town’s past than lets on. Sheriff Wyatt is trying to keep the town safe by being fair to anyone that could be in suspect. Ranger Taso supports the Sheriff in trying to get the town’s people to safety when the storm start making its way towards the town. Travis Crenna is a stranger in town searching for his lost brother, he is trained in survival and gets involved in trying to learn the truth about fighting off the people in the woods. Chloe is one of the victims captured while trying to make her way to the cabin. Gimple is the leader of the group that is capturing victims in the woods around the mountain range and soon we learn how many people he is working with. We have a group of young people that are out for partying who are here for the main parts of the drinking, sex and bad decisions, in a strange way these are the characters we most likely didn’t need in the film.
Performances – The performances are good through the film, John Hennigan is the stand out as he continues to make a name for himself away from the wrestling ring. The performance can be divided elsewhere between the well-known actors including horror icon Bill Moseley, sci-fi icon Christopher Judge and Will Baldwin who are good and help draw the audience in. the other half of the performances can look at the group of friends who again are good and generally are involved in a lot more scenes than most of the iconic stars.
Story – The story, well before we get into the story, I must ask you a question, how complicated do you want slashers to be? Well if you answer not very, this story will not be for you. The story follows a group of party animals who are about to start getting picked off by killers, which is fine, then we add in a backstory for motive which only gets glossed over for the most part, a story the party animals would never know about in the first place and we end up in a position where we have plenty of bodies turning up. I do however believe the way the villains are introduced was one of the highlights of the story and help the story feel like an enjoyable one for horror fans.
Action/Horror – When we look at the action in this film you get a hint you might be getting when you know one of the stars is a wrestler, we have good combat and with the weapons the villains use we get to see plenty of great blood-filled moments. The horror in this film is a slasher at heart, it has the cliched characters and killers which will leave bodies everywhere.
Settings – The film takes place in the woods around a mountain range which keeps them from easy rescue.
Special Effects – The effects are practical and when the bodies start piling up the kills mixed with the weapons look brutal through the film.
Scene of the Movie – The weapons are great and original.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain slasher clichés are overly focused on.
Final Thoughts – If you want to see a fun bloody slasher this one is going to be for you, we have plenty of bloodshed, bodies piling up and unique looking weapons for the killers to use.
Overall: Great addition to the slasher world.
Rating
