The boss here at SciFi Monkeys knows that are two things in this world that I am very fond of, schlocky horror B movies and weed. So when he sent me a movie to review titled 4/20 Massacre all I could do was smile, smile, smile.
I am going to get the obvious required pun out of the way first thing. I found this movie…highly entertaining.
That out of the way lets break this movie down. Five friends, all women go camping in the woods to celebrate that ultimate stoner holiday April 20th, aka 4/20. What could possibly go wrong with that? Bad news for them is they run afoul of crazed marijuana farmers protecting their crop.
Hate it when that happens.
At first, 4/20 Massacre has a lighthearted B movie tone, all the required stereotypes and tropes are hit including a couple of my personal favorites, the victim who cant run away because she is too busy tripping over things and falling down and the whole let’s separate all the characters so that they are easier to kill. Even the first kill or so is leavened with a little humor. I settled in, sure that I knew where this all was going.
I was so wrong that I must have been high.
The script has some emotional weight as it progresses and some actual character development as well as a plot twist here and there. The plot also darkens considerably as it moves steadily along until we are standing firmly on territory formerly marked by movies like I Spit on your Grave. The kills become more brutal and resonate with the audience more…because the time was taken to develop the characters of the film. This is a mark of a good director.
The final scene of 4/20 Massacre is one of the most perfect I have seen in a long time, obviously can’t share what it is with you because that would be a gnarly bummer of a spoiler.
[Related: Jamie Bernadette talks Killing Joan and 4/20 Massacre – SFM Exclusive Interview]
What started out as a light-hearted B slasher flick ended as something quite a bit more. Major kudos to Dylan Reynolds who wrote and directed this film, I will be interested to see what his next work may be if this work is an indication of his talents.
I give the surprisingly accomplished 4/20 Massacre a blazing full five bananas on the SciFi Monkeys scale and I predict that it is going to become something of a cult classic in the future. Just for fun, this review is exactly 420 words long.
4/20 Massacre is available now! Get it from Amazon.
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