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Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: February 26, 2013.
Director: Jason Christopher
Cast: Shaun Paul Costello, Chelsey Garner, Jen Dance, Brain Gallagher, Clint Howard
Year: 2013
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Jason Christopher, Nobody Gets Out Alive would seem to wear its influences proudly on its sleeve. The quote on the front cover touts it as 'an homage to some of the great slasher films of the 70's and 80's' and the cover art rips off the poster art for the recent Texas Chainsaw 3D movie.
The story revolves around family man Hunter Isth (Brian Gallagher) whose world crumbles around him when his young daughter is hit and killed by a drunk driver, in plain sight of him as he toils in the kitchen making her breakfast. From there, Hunter goes on to, ummm, hunt the local teenage population, hell-bent on avenging the death of his only child. His presence eventually evolves into a sort of urban legend among the townsfolk, but his presence is very real.
From there we meet Jenny (Jen Dance), a seemingly nice young lady who has recently been let out of the hospital (look for Clint Howard as the doctor). Encouraged to go out and find herself, she soon winds up on a camping trip with a group of stereotypically rowdy teenagers out to party it up in the woods. Can you guess who else is in those woods? Yes, you probably can. As disposable teenagers hook up and make out, Hunter shows up and kills them in some impressively gory ways, while Jen can't help but be attracted to the one sensitive dude that she runs into during all of this chaos. Who will be butchered? Who will get laid? Who will make it out alive? Will anyone care? Probably not.
There's potential here - the movie starts off with a decent enough premise in the distraught father trying to overcome a personal tragedy by using violence as a tool for vengeance. Once we head into the woods, however, it's one long string of clichés. Or if you prefer, it's one giant 'homage' to older, better slasher films. This would have been fine if the movie had been interesting or even well shot, but sadly it's neither. Christopher obviously loves the slasher movies of decades past, that much is obvious, but in his attempt to pay tribute he loses sight of what matters most, and that's giving us something interesting to watch. If you've seen any of the classics of the genre, and odds are if you're reading this sight that you have, you'll know exactly what's going to happen, who it's going to happen to and when it's going to happen before it plays out on screen and as such, there's no tension, no scares… just some decent gore effects.
On top of that, the movie takes place mostly in the woods at night and so it's ridiculously dark for the bulk of its running time. Granted, the woods are a scary place at night even without a psychotic angry dad running around with a tool belt full of sharp things but the movie takes this too unnecessary extremes. The cast are game and do what they can but the problems keep stemming back to the script and how completely derivative it is. Christopher shows promise in some scenes and probably has it in him to make a decent low budget horror film at some point. We'll consider this a practice run and not write him off in hopes that next time around, we'll get a story worth being told.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer looks about as good as you can expect it to given that it was made on a modest budget and with an aversion to bright colors. The movie is often dimly light and takes place in a lot of grim, dark locations and this is reflected in the transfer. It is, however, free of damage and shows only minor compression artifacts.
The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sounds fine. There isn't a ton of channel separation but the score is spread out well even if it does bury the dialogue from time to time. Levels are well balanced and there's no hiss or distortion but there are times where surround activity is subdued. Optional closed captioning is provided in English only.
Jason Christopher offers up a commentary track that explains his motivations for making the movie and which details the trials and tribulations of making the movie. He expresses his admiration for the cast and crew and notes his influences. We also get a fairly generic and short behind the scenes featurette and a selection of outtakes. A menu and chapter stops are also included and the DVD case fits inside a slipcover featuring identical artwork with some nifty embossed foil printing.
The Final Word:
The team behind this one obviously had their collective heart in the right place but don't quite pull off this homage to backwoods slashers the way you want them to simply because it offers us nothing we haven't already seen countless times before. The end result is a movie that is, outside of some decent gore, not particularly impressive in any way, shape or form. This makes it tough to recommend to all but the most ardent slasher fans.
