Movie: Halloweed
Director: LazReal Lison
Producers: Jayson Bernard, Suzette Brown, Michael Bussan, Tatiana Chekhova, LazReal Lison, Roberto Rosario Jr, Jamie Trent
Scriptwriters: Michael Bussan, Dale Zawada
Main Cast: Simon Rex, Shannon Brown, Jim O’Heir, Michelle Mueller, Jayson Bernard
Release Date: March 2016 (US)
Running Time: 101 minutes
Certificate: Not Rated
Introduction
Now I know it isn’t October and Halloween film season but if you’re bored of the normal horror films, check out this mental film. While at points it’s quite questionable (and don’t worry I’m going to touch on that) Halloweed does get genuinely entertaining towards the end. And that is a sentence I didn’t think I’d say before I watched the film. So without further ado let’s get into the review of the film.
Synopsis
Halloweed is a parody horror film which follows main character Trent Modine (Brown) and his stoner step brother Joey (Rex) as they try and escape the legacy of their serial killer father. And just how do they attempt to do this? Well they move to the small town of Mooseheart, known for its good weed and definitely not for its serial killer: The Candy Corn Killer. So when some definitely not cliched murders start to occur in Mooseheart, Trent and Joey have to put down the bongs and pick up some detective skills in order to find the killer before it’s too late. And yes, as the title suggests there is a lot of weed and smoking in this film which only serves to ramp up the insanity within. But enough about the synopsis and all the insanity of it, let’s get into the analysis portion of the review.
Analysis
Casting in Halloweed
To begin my analysis of Halloweed, I’m going to discuss the film’s cast and why it’s one of the highlights of the film. Now the fact that this film has Danny Trejo is great already. But the fact Trejo is playing a drug dealer is even funnier. And that’s not even mentioning one of the funniest moments in the film: his fight with the Candy Corn Killer. Why is this fight so funny? Well, beyond the fact that the fight scene looks on par with your average student film, it has a moment of comedic gold when Patch (Trejo) unmasks the killer. The look of shock, the over the shoulder shot of Patch looking at the unmasked killer and the generally student film vibe to the scene makes the audience wonder if this film is truly a horror film or a bad student film. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in the case of Halloweed….. Oh and the rest of the cast is great as well, just as a little summary.
Questionable Content in Halloweed
Continuing my analysis of Halloweed, I’m going to discuss something which I alluded to in the introduction and the synopsis: the questionable content in Halloweed’s story. So what are some examples of this? Well take Joey’s whole character. Now I’m all for equal representation in film but having Joey seemingly liking the idea of being sexually assaulted is more than questionable. And this isn’t just a one off dark joke this is repeatedly made as a joke. And what worse is the film has another character who seemingly likes the idea of sexual assault, the female police officer. Now this is because she seemingly keeps trying to give strip searches to various characters in the film and you don’t need me to tell that’s pretty messed up. Oh, and I haven’t even touched on a character who is basically a paedophile. Damn, this was a film which has not aged well in any way…..
Violence in Halloweed
To conclude my analysis of Halloweed, I’m going to discuss the level of violence in the film. Now as you’d expect from a slasher/horror film, there is a lot of violence. And if you’re squeamish then this probably isn’t the film for you. I say this because of the murder of Patch. Let’s just say there are a lot of openings in Patch that weren’t there before. Oh also there’s a scene at the end where the mayor gets stabbed by his own son. Yeah weird film when you think about…. Anyway, the violence doesn’t stop there as there are plenty of scenes which imply the violent killings by the Candy Corn Killer. This includes a less than subtle reference to films like Halloween with a POV shot lingering on a lone girl. Oh and there’s also shots which imply the implausibility of the killer getting away when there’s no reason why he doesn’t get noticed. Honestly one of the most overused clichés in horror and that’s saying something….
Summary
To summarise Halloweed, this is a very morally questionable, dumb student film like parody of classic horror. Basically, it’s proper weird B List horror on Prime Video. Honestly, as much as I’ve tried to summarise this I can’t ever do Halloweed justice. Just watch it and be mesmerised…..
Overall Rating: 4.5/10 – Below Average
Target Audience: 18+
Content Warning: Strong Violence and Gore, Strong Alcohol and Drugs References, Moderate Frightening and Intense Scenes
Recommendation: Yes
