As with previous installments at
Toronto After Dark, its run overlaps with Rue Morgue's monthly
Cinemacabre movie night, so this year's co-presentation was the
British backwoods horror flick Inbred.
A pair of social workers take a bunch of
troubled youths on a field trip into the English countryside, only to
be set upon by a bunch of inbred townsfolk.
I didn't much care
for this one. I understand that it was supposed to be a dark comedy, but I
just never got onboard. There is certainly some fun to be had, but
as I've probably said before, I think I'm done with the whole
“torturing people is fun” thing. There were certainly people in
the crowd who seemed to be enjoying themselves, so maybe I've – for
lack of a better term – outgrown this stuff. It sounds odd
to say that, but a lot of this movie just washed over me with little
or no enjoyment forthcoming. Inbred's tone reminded me of Steven
Sheil's 2008 flick Mum & Dad, but less confined and contained, therefore less plausible.
Maybe I'm confused by the intent. Most
of the protagonists in this movie are, to use the local colour, a
“bunch of twats” so caring about them is relatively impossible.
I did manage to latch onto the two female characters eventually, but
director Alex Chandon didn't make it easy for me. As the movie goes
on, the focus seems to shift towards the townsfolk, as if they are, in
fact, supposed to be the heroes of the piece. I suppose that's not
totally outlandish, as virtually the entire American slasher genre
was built on that principle, but here it seems broken somehow.
Just another day on the farm... |
The only thing that Inbred really
delivers on, in my opinion, is the gore. Though there is a bit too
much CG for my tastes in parts, I also understand that some of the
outrageous things that happen in this movie would be almost
impossible to do practically. I was also glad to see Jake West muse
Emily Booth show up here, albeit briefly.
For me I guess the final nail of
dislike in the coffin, was the ending. I mean, sure it was a choice
that fit the tone of the movie, but that doesn't mean I have to
approve. In contrast to TAD's opener Grabbers, sometimes getting exactly what you expect, isn't a good thing. At the end of the day, I didn't get much out of Inbred, but if this seems like your cup of tea, the trailer is a pretty
good representation of what you are in for.
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