4/20 Massacre (2018) Review
4/20 Massacre (2018) Review
Starring Jamie Bernadette (I Spit On Your Grave), Stacey Danger (Neon Demon), and Jim Storm (Trilogy of Terror, Dark Shadows), 4/20 Massacre follows a group of five women that go camping in the woods to celebrate a friend’s birthday over 4/20 weekend (20th April for those in England). However, when the female campers cross the turf of an illegal marijuana growing operation they must struggle to survive the living nightmare…
Written and directed by Dylan Reynolds, 4/20 Massacre has been described as an American stoner survival horror film – it’s not like you get many of those littering up the genre landscape – although it rather overlooks the horror in favour of characterisation. Normally I wouldn’t complain about a film taking the time to build up fully-rounded characters but with 4/20 Massacre it comes at the expense the horror which feels shoehorned and rushed into the film’s final moments. There’s no denying that when the splatter kicks in that it is in welcome abundance but for some genre fans, including this one, it may just be a little too late.
The film is set on 20th April, which is apparently the ‘official holiday’ for weed enthusiasts so now you know! Refreshingly our stoners are all female and not the usual caricatures that we are usually dished out. We are afforded time to get to know each and remarkably the inclusion of lesbian-leanings is not played up for gratuitous titillation but treated instead in a grown-up, matter-of-fact fashion that marks the film’s director and writer as a name to watch (if only he remembers the horror next time).
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