Ratline (Review)

Director – Eric Stanze (China White Serpentine)
Starring – Emily Haack (Scrapbook), Jason Christ (Satan Eats Lunch), and Sarah Swofford (Demon Board)
Release Date – 2011
Rating – 4/5

Tagline – “The skin of the civilized world is growing thin…”

I always praised the horror community on how supportive and tight knit it was.  People would always share the most recent films that had seen that were worth a damn while shit smearing the ones that sucked ass.  However, the indie horror community can fuck right off.  They can fuck right off just like Fran Drescher’s voice.

I’m pissed because I just recently discovered the film Ratline by extreme horror fan Eric Stanze.  Ratline was a new one to me that I only discovered about 6 months ago or so.  The film looked fun so I reached out to the Wicked Pixel Cinema Facebook page and over the course of several months I built a relationship with them and they finally sent me a signed screener.  Thank you so much for that Eric and Eli.

**Spoiler Alert**The film follows Crystal Brewer (Haack) and her half sister as they flee from the scene of a botched heist with money in tow.  Once shit got real they headed to a small town to lay low and think things through. It is here that she meets a beautiful young lady (lesbian love) and the two hit it off instantly.  Around this time a man comes into town seeking an old Nazi flag to complete a ritual needed to engulf the world into chaos and to grant him immortality.

It is only a matter of time before Crystal crosses paths with him and learns of his dark past and his ties with the Nazi party.  She also learns who her real father is.  That leaves her to make a choice; follow the stranger on his bloody rampage or protect her family from him.**Spoiler Alert**

I love all horror from the past to now.  Every decade has a certain style of film that sets it apart from the others.  The last few years saw the rise of the extreme horror film and this is something I have expressed a dislike for in almost all of my reviews.  Most of these extreme horror flicks give us buckets of gore and extreme sexual acts without giving the viewer any real story.  When I first saw the artwork for Ratline I assumed it was an extreme horror flick but after a few minutes I quickly realized that this is type of film that has been long forgotten.  This film was a straight forward horror flick which is something most films have gotten away from and that was a damn shame.

The acting in this film is superb.  The entire cast did an amazing job.  Sadly, this is my first encounter with them all and that is something I am going to have to fix…and soon.  The story for this film is fucking fun as hell and very well written.  Stanze is a real fan of horror and knew exactly what horror fans wanted to see.  I loved the beginning Satanic cult angle before completely twisting on me to give me an unexpected Nazi spin.  A sequel needs to be made dammit!

Finally, the film has some very impressive kills and great special effects to pull them off.  The kills were not out of place or there to give use pointless gore.  The kills actually fit the story and that is important when making a straight forward horror flick.  Overall, Ratline is a fucking masterpiece.  It is balls out and bloody the way it should be.  This is not a film everyone needs to check out.  Instead, it is a film that everyone MUST own.  I highly recommend this one!