Director – Jordan Miller (The Red Effect, Frederick One Take)
Starring – Paul Cottman (Where the Scary Things Are, Three), Tatiana Nya Ford (Project LETHE), and Emily Classen (The Forgiving, Thespian)
Release Date – 2024
Rating – 3/5
I spent a majority of the month binging zombie flicks while I played the horror survival game Once Human. Honestly, this was one amazing extended vacation before I started my new employment. Once the zombie flicks ran their course, I decided to switch it up a bit and watch the Amityville series along with some of the indie Amityville bootleg films that are found on Tubi.
This was fun while it lasted and while I had many more Amityville flicks to binge I knew I needed to get back to reviewing. I decided to get back into reviewing with a new slasher that was recently released and when that one let me down it was time to check out The Only Ones. The Only Ones is an indie horror flick sent over by my good friend and actor Matt Burns. I want to thank Matt for sending this one over!
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a group of twenty-somethings who go deep into the woods to the property owned by own of them to party it up. However, a run in with squatters leaves the group on edge. To make matters worse, one of them has failed to show up after a night of tripping on shrooms in the woods. Things take a deadly turn when paranoia gets the best of them and they inadvertently kill each other suspecting others to be the killer. **Spoiler Alert**
The Only Ones is one of those films that is more enjoyable the less you know about it. I knew Matt was involved with the film but I took the lazy route when I heard about it and didn’t look into it. I prefer to go into a film I review completely blind. The less I know about it the better and in this case it made the film a lot of fun.
The acting in this one is probably my least favorite aspect of the film. The characters are extremely one dimensional and the cast doesn’t have that much energy. A lot of the characters are not very likable and the stiff performances does take away from the film but it doesn’t completely ruin it.
The story for this one is what draws the viewer in. The Tucker and Dale vs Evil type story works for this indie horror feature. It doesn’t feel like a rip off or a copy cat film. Instead, it’s a well written story that uses a similar plot but mixes it up enough to where it feels like it’s own. It’s clever is a lot of ways and the deaths are very unexpected which makes it damn near impossible to predict what is going to happen next.
Finally, the film has a lot of blood and simple effects. The film doesn’t shy away from the blood but the kills we do get are nothing we haven’t seen before or are that impressive. They use simple effects, which do look good, but for those of us looking for wild deaths or crazy gore will be very disappointed. Overall, The Only Ones was a surprisingly fun indie horror flick that had no reason being as good as it is. While I was not a fan of the characters and would have loved more blood, I still really enjoyed it. I highly recommend checking this one out
