- Director: Marcel Walz
- Writer: Joe Knetter
- Stars: Adriane McLean, Sarah French, Gigi Gustin, Adam Bucci, Robert Flested Jr., Mark Justice
REVIEW
We are introduced to the desert highways of the US, in the opening shots of Brute 1976. It’s August 19, 1976, and the Lindsay Lohan-esque Raquel (Gigi Gusten) and her partner June (Bianca Jade Montalvo) are having car trouble. After walking to find some help, they come across an apparently abandoned mine/ghost town, and well, we all know where this is heading and why it is a bad idea. Brute 1976 is a straight-up homage to the nasty, gnarly 70s horror (specifically The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes) that you (and me) love. There are a few cringey references and on-the-nose dialogue, but it is almost expected in throwback horror films now.
After an excellent cold open, we meet a van full of victims characters. The drug loving driver Charlie (Flested Jr), model Roxy (McLean), a gay but closeted photographer Jordy (Bucci), the jacked-up but seemingly nice Ray (Justice) and the pre-requisite hot blonde Sunshine (French). This group is about to take some photos for a fashion magazine, but the only problem is that Raquel was meant to meet them here but hasn’t made it, this group doesn’t know that Raquel has been captured by… you guessed it a murderous clan that has made the abandoned mining ghost town their home. As the group in the van, begin to split up and look for Raquel, we have the perfect scene set for a 70s survival horror film.
The film looks great, almost too good for a film that is meant to ape a 70s horror film but this isn’t a criticism just an observation. Cinematographer Marcus Friedlander using the brutal desert backdrop well, the barren desert making any colour pop against it. Whilst Director Walz keeps things moving, not looking to do anything else but getting to the horror of the situations, be it a graphic injury, a dark creepy hallway or sun blazed masked man kicking up dust as he stalks his victims, Walz creates a tense atmosphere with his use of camera.
Some of the dialogue seems out of place for the 1970s, which isn’t a huge deal, but it does jar a little and the aside from the title and clothing it doesn’t feel like the 70s. The attitudes in the film are in juxtaposition with each other. On one hand, you have a seemingly out and proud lesbian couple and a ‘love is love’ character but these characters are treated with either misplaced humour or they seem to be there just for titillation – nothing new in the horror genre of course but it just seemed pointless and more like an excessive 80s horror trope. The comedy is sprinkled throughout the film, some of it intentional (a funny riff on getting films mixed up and also the rumours that came with it), and some of it incidental.
Brute 1976 gets most of the story right but it is perhaps overly long, and the 3rd act double twist, doesn’t really help the film and the twists themselves are unnecessary, however I do understand the desire to do something unexpected. Brute 1976 is a solid horror film, that will keep slasher fans engaged.
Brute 1976 is available now on VOD
Ryan Morrissey-Smith
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