Basically, all Billy (David Vaughn) wanted was to spend a
"romantic" weekend in the country with his girlfriend Stacy
(Stacey Dixon), and maybe finally get intimate with her before the new
semester starts ... but she of course has to bring her wall-flowerish
brother (Shawn C. Phillips), while he can't resist to bring his obnoxious
friend Dan (Jeremy Jones) along, whose girlfriend Jan (Kaylee Williams)
makes constant passes on Billy - and he can't help being drawn to her, at
least physically ... and can you blame him? So yeah, the weekend starts
off at an awkward note, but at least a scary story about the local
serialkiller called the Lashman gets them all in the right mood -
until a deputy with mysterious injuries shows up at their doorstep and
dies in their cabin ... and a masked guy with two bullwhips shows up right
outside, and the blood on his bullwhips suggests he's not exactly on a
goodwill tour ... Of course, in essence The Lashman is
your typical old school slasher movie, down to the lead characters and
their primal traits - but that said, The Lashman does not so much
rely on just affording some cardboard characters some inventive death
scenes but does spend some considerable time with its characters, telling
their entangled stories in an interesting (and at times quite sexy) way, before
having several of them die in a way that fits the narrative. Add to this a
very competent ensemble cast, and a direction that puts character
development and building up atmosphere over pure spectacle and
sensationalism, and you've got yourself a piece of extremely nice genre
entertainment.
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