Hello there fellow fans of murders most foul, I’m Thakgore and for my introduction here at Horror Society I’ll be reviewing the new film, “The Axe Murders of Villisca”. Based on an actual horrific event, this movie promises supernatural thrills and chills commensurate with its grisly subject matter. So sit back and let’s take a trip to the past and learn all about the…..
In 1912, the same year the Titanic sank, eight people (six of them children) were brutally murdered by the blunt end of an axe in Villisca, Iowa. Although two different men were tried for the crime both were ultimately acquitted and the case remains unsolved to this day. While the world may never know the truth about what happened that dreadful, summer night, “The Axe Murders of Villisca” seeks to fill in the blanks and offer up its own supernatural explanation…sort of. Unfortunately, the true story from which this film draws its inspiration is much more interesting than what is offered here. “The Axe Murders of Villisca” is a movie ripe with promise and delivers on almost none of it. I had a better time watching the trailer than I had with the film itself.
A misconception one might have from the title is that this movie is about the actual events from that fateful night back in 1912, and while the film begins with, and has several flashbacks to, said event it is really about some teenagers in present time. The story begins with troubled teen Caleb (Robert Adamson) being given a ride to his last day of high school by his best friend Denny (Jarrett Sleeper). Upon arrival they are immediately accosted by the requisite high school bullies Conner (Riley Bodenstab) and Rob (Khellan Rhude) but before a confrontation can happen the school’s principal, played by the wonderful Conchata Ferrell, swoops in to save the day with her trademark sardonic wit. Meanwhile we are introduced to the third member of our prospective ghost hunting trio, Jess (Alex Frnka) who is hiding out in a bathroom stall to escape because of a video that is circulating online of her having sex with the aforementioned jackass Conner. Of course a couple of girls come into the bathroom talking about and watching said video and Jess awkwardly leaves the bathroom in a scene I’ve seen about a hundred variations of in my life. Later, while standing at his locker, Caleb witnesses the other jackass bully (apparently this town is so small it only has two bullies) Rob harassing Jess and as she swiftly walks away Caleb smashes Rob’s face into a locker and his gallantry catches Jess’ eye.
After school, Caleb goes to Denny’s house and the two plan a trip to Villisca to take a tour of the titular murder house. Denny is obsessed with ghost hunting and wants to film the tour for….some reason that is never made completely clear. Upon leaving they meet up with Jess in Denny’s front yard who catches the two in the middle of some good old high school jocularity. Jess has facebook stalked her way to Denny’s house to find Caleb who invites her on the tour much to Denny’s chagrin. The trio make their way to the house and are treated to a tour by another inspired casting choice, Uncle Rico himself, Jon Gries. Their tour is cut short when Jess steps over one of the velvet ropes and is accosted by screaming old woman who comes out of nowhere and since they didn’t get the full tour they decide to wait until dark to sneak back in and look around as ghostly hijinks ensue.
I’ll spare you the rest of the fine details in case you decide to watch the film for yourself, but suffice to say what follows is a paranormal mish mash that is both confusing and trite. Of course the bullies find out where the three are and show up to torment them. Of course each of them is tortured by the house with visions of their impossibly tragic backstories. Of course there are creepy ghost kids offering up cryptic ghostly warnings. Surprisingly though, if you guessed there would be some axe-murdering going on, you’d be wrong. Not one person actually dies on screen to an axe, even in the flashbacks of the axe murders the house is known for. A better name for the film may have been “The Switchblade Murders of Villisca”.
The most frustrating thing for me about this film is that it is so mundane. The plot is derivative, the title is misleading, the dialogue is about as banal as you can get and the interplay between the leads is forced and stiff. The film looks great and I can see potential in so much of it but ultimately I was let down by the sheer boredom it brought me. Also, it has an ending that is so confusing and dumb that I was left wondering what the writers were thinking.
The one bright spot I could find besides Jon Gries and Conchata Ferrell, was the flashback sequences. Appropriately creepy with “that guy” actor Sean Whalen playing Reverend Kelly, the man who confessed to the original crime, I found myself wanting to watch a film all about his story rather than the boring, paint-by-numbers teenagers I was left with.
In the end I can’t, in good conscience, recommend “The Axe Murders of Villisca”. While I didn’t think it was among the worst horror films I’ve seen recently it also isn’t even close to the best. It’s home is right in the middle of the road. There is little to no gore, it’s not really scary, and I cared very little for the fate of the main characters. If you don’t mind bland though, I guess I could tell you to check it out. Otherwise avoid this one altogether. Well, maybe check out the trailer which is actually kind of cool.
“The Axe Murders of Villisca” is currently available for streaming on Amazon.com.
