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Released by: Bloody Earth Films/Camp Motion Pictures
Released on: 2/12/13
Director: Chris Sun
Cast: Christian Radford, Shaun Trainer, Alexis Fernandez, Kelsie Mcdonald, Christopher Price
Year: 2011
Purchase from Amazon
The Movie:
Four close school friends have a girl's night out in Brisbane, full of drinking and poor judgement, and definitely no boys. The girls get a ride into town via one girl's boyfriend, but the ride home becomes a problem. Hours of booze-fueled hijinks tend to conclude with less-than-brilliant decision making and this night is no exception. Desperate for a ride back to the boonies, one of the girls calls a misfit from their old class who had a thing for her. Praying on his weakness, she exploits her girly charms to the fullest and convinces him to come pick her and the others drunks up and drive them home.
He's not alone though. Along with him for the ride, and the hopes of some fun, are his demented buddies Johnny (Christian Radford) and Bretto (Shaun Trainer). These guys are always looking for some action, as apparently the senseless and brutal murders of a random woman and then a high school principal weren't enough for one night, but they'll be good and all that will happen is a simple ride home. But Johnny is bat-shit insane and Bretto is an about-to-explode-at-any-second powder keg, so you know this isn't going to go smoothly.
The psychos pick up the party girls and things are ok at first. Before long the high school clique garbage kicks in from years ago, and the girls start running down the guys who are helping them to get home safely. This aggravates and infuriates Bretto (rightly so too; how stupid can these girls be?) who does not respond well and the car gets pulled over. Out go the girls onto the dirt and in the middle of nowhere, and thus starts a deadly game of hide-and-seek.
There are plenty of gore-filled scenes, with practical FX, which are pulled off pretty effectively (there is little worse than to sit through shitty, low-budget CGI). Sadly, so many cheapo flicks opt for the no fuss/no mess solution of computer generatic blood, but not with these filmmakers, and we thank them for that. There's not much of a story here, adding nothing new to the psycho-stalker type movies….but…the film is successful in what it seems to have set out to do: make a slasher-gore film that can be uncomfortable to watch. To say the movie is a misogynistic tale wouldn't be totally correct, as they do kill a man, but it's mainly a group of maniacal douche bags being incredibly brutal toward women. One scene in particular involves the random killing of a woman they snatched off the street. After a prolonged session of torture and torment she meets a horrible end, and for the unseasoned viewer it can be difficult to sit through. The actor playing the victim is amazingly convincing with her screams of pain and terror and you may find yourself hoping for the end of her unapologetic abuse.
This low-budget indie horror movie from Australia has another thing going for it and that's the acting. Most of the performances were a pleasant surprise not always found in flicks of this caliber, but special mention goes to the guys playing the Bretto and Johnny. They're frightening, vile, and pretty darned convincing. Come and Get Me is by no means a breakout genre picture that changes the landscape of the independent horror pictures scene, but it succeeds where so many indie horror flicks fail in that it is effective. Like the movie or not, it delivers.
Video/Audio/Extras:
A 16:9 aspect ratio is the way the movie is presented here, and things look less than stellar. The movie looks like it could have been shot from behind a dirty screen. Most of the activity is at night (maybe even the whole movie), inside dark clubs and outside in the dark woods and at times, especially in the woods, it's tough to see what's going on sometimes. It enhances the scuzzy feel of the movie though, and maybe it was intentional, but it was at times a distraction. The few scenes in decent lighting do look alright but those are few and far in between. At any rate, no issues to report by way of disc authoring. For audio, a 2.0 Dolby Digital track handles the job, and doing it without much fanfare. The balance is fine, the music doesn't get obnoxious, and things are easy to understand.
A nice batch of extras on are the disc. A commentary by Chris Sun (writer/director) and actor Christian Radford (psycho Johnny) accompanies the feature and it's a really good track. Sun knows exactly what kind of movie he made, is proud of it, and it comes through nicely in his commentary. The two are obviously friends and they play off each other well. From start to end, an entertaining listen. The featurettes include audition and rehearsal footage, gore FX walk-throughs, interviews, deleted scenes, and a blooper real. Most are entertaining, they don't overstay their welcome, and are worth taking a look if the movie sparked your fancy. A trailer for the movie plus trailers for other products by the disc label are also available for your browsing pleasure.
The Final Word:
Certainly worth a look for those who dig low-budget horror, so long as it's the ultra-violent type.
