Halloween, 1989: a bunch of friends travelling to a heavy rock concert stop off at the small backwater town of Wheary Falls, where they unwittingly resurrect three Halloween demons - the boogeyman, the candy corn scarecrow, and the pumpkin man - who proceed to hack and slash their way through the youngsters.
The Barn is yet another nostalgic retro-styled horror that attempts to replicate the look and feel of yesteryear. Here's what it gets right: it's got an annoying group of teens, most of whom are deserving of a pick-axe in the head; there's a virginal female who is destined to be the 'final girl'; the black guy dies first; a sex scene supplies the obligatory gratuitous nudity (after which both involved meet a grisly demise); the music is spot-on, with a synth score and a few heavy rock songs on the soundtrack; and the number of deaths is fairly high, with plenty of enthusiastic splatter (mostly of the cheap and cheerful kind).
But here's where it all goes wrong: the acting is utterly atrocious (even from supposed seasoned pro Linnea Quigley); the direction and editing are clumsy, most notably during the action scenes; there's way too much expositional chit-chat that really bogs down proceedings; and even at only 90 minutes, it all seems way too long, the story perhaps better suited to a short film, or as part of an anthology. I could also have done without the affected film degradation used to give the movie that authentic '80s feel-it's a technique that has been done to death.
4/10. Unlikely to become a Halloween tradition in my household.
The Barn is yet another nostalgic retro-styled horror that attempts to replicate the look and feel of yesteryear. Here's what it gets right: it's got an annoying group of teens, most of whom are deserving of a pick-axe in the head; there's a virginal female who is destined to be the 'final girl'; the black guy dies first; a sex scene supplies the obligatory gratuitous nudity (after which both involved meet a grisly demise); the music is spot-on, with a synth score and a few heavy rock songs on the soundtrack; and the number of deaths is fairly high, with plenty of enthusiastic splatter (mostly of the cheap and cheerful kind).
But here's where it all goes wrong: the acting is utterly atrocious (even from supposed seasoned pro Linnea Quigley); the direction and editing are clumsy, most notably during the action scenes; there's way too much expositional chit-chat that really bogs down proceedings; and even at only 90 minutes, it all seems way too long, the story perhaps better suited to a short film, or as part of an anthology. I could also have done without the affected film degradation used to give the movie that authentic '80s feel-it's a technique that has been done to death.
4/10. Unlikely to become a Halloween tradition in my household.