It should have been a simple bus journey to the Grand Canyon, with your
typical a bit too diverse group having booked the same trip, from the
religious nutters (Milly Sanders, Braxton Davis) to the drugged to the
brim goths (Tonya Kay, Jeremy Thorsen), with veteran Simon (Damien
Puckler) suffering from PTSD thrown in just for good measure ... but then
the bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and there's no cellphone
signal - but there's a ghost town nearby, which it seems has served as a
themepark celebrating some of the world's most vicious serial killers - Ed
Gein (Gary Kasper), Jeffrey Dahmer (Marion Kopf), John Wayne Gacy (Hawk
Walts), Albert Fish (Rick Williamson), the Zociac Killer (John C.
Epperson) and of course (a very sexy female) Jack the Ripper (Mary
LeGault). And if this was a theme park until recently, there might
still be a phone, right? Well, finding a phone will soon become the
least problem for our motley crew, as it seems the themepark (if you even
want to call it that) has just opened under the new management of JB (Semi
Anthony), who just happens to be an attorney of some rather dark forces,
and he is in the process of bringing above killers back to life ... which
the goth kids only speed up (and live to regret it), and suddenly, the
place turns into a slaughterhouse, as these six killers try to outdo one
another in slaughtering the bus passengers. But even though the killers
have been brought back to life, they're anything but invulnerable, so can
be killed, and are so jealous of one another they even get at one
another's throat occacionally. Still, our entirely and naturally human
heroes seem to be up against overwhelming odds ... Now
Butchers might not be the Citizen Kane of horror cinema (and
the movie's makers probably have set out for it to be) ... but at the same
time, it's lot of fun, especially - but not only - for slasher movie fans:
What you get here is something that works within slasher movie confines
and yet is more than simple genre fodder, as with the twist of giving the
audience six (well-portrayed and diverse) killers for the price of one AND
an unusual baddie (Semi Anthony) overlooking it all it really expands on
the typical genre narrative. And with a set of interesting characters
brought to life by nice performances, cool gore and action setpieces and a
directorial effort going for more than just the obvious, you get yourself
a very decent genre flick.
|