[Offspring]
Plot:A film adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel where a group of friends getting together for a weekend, are besieged by a family of feral humans who have been living in isolation for ages.

Cast:Art Hindle, Pollyanna McIntosh, Tommy Nelson, Spencer List.

My Thoughts:More atmospheric than anything.

Review:"Offspring", a film adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel, mostly comes off as just another psychos-on-the-loose horror film. The movie, which is set in a rural community, begins with a mother returning home loaded (alcohol), to find her child being butchered by a group of feral, wild, children. The children, the titular "Offspring", have apparently been living in the surrounding areas for ages, and this isn't their first kill. But because the local authorities are onto them somewhat, they are currently on the move.

Which is how they come across a plethora of new victims. The movie is a really masochistic film, filled with very abusive scenes, and scenes of the children abusing themselves. The movie has a dark tone to it, and because it has no score, and doesn't play hardly any music beyond a few highly-short jingles here and there, a lot of it's most prized scenes manage to be more effective than the typical indie horror movie.

But in reality, the formula, even if it is a Jack Ketchum adaptation, is at this point not something that can really wow anyone. It's setting, and it's characters, make it just another movie where screwed up people prey on normal people. And because these kids are feral and wild, it doesn't come across as much as a slasher film, as it does "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with tykes and tots.

Granted, I try and give every film a fair shot, but there's only so much room in the genre for the crazy-rural-people-preying-on-the-normal routine. Or films where some crazy weirdo's living in the wild attack unsuspecting tourists, teens, or passers-by. Granted, films like this worked back in the day, mostly because they were scarier and more effectively written back then. But nowadays, it's like being surprised that the local pizza joint delivers. Everybody's doing it, ho-hum, ho-hum.

I think this movie would've been more appreciated if it had been done atleast 6 years ago. But by now, after "Wrong Turn", the "TCM" sequels, and many clones of both movies, we know what to expect from this formula by now. People live, they mind their own business, crazies eventually find their way to them, crazies murder people in bloody fashion, one or two escape, film ends. This movie follows that same formula, but it does manage to make the moment where the feral children confront their next prey effective.

Mostly because the scenes are shot at night, and again, aren't heavily scored. So you get a throwback/80's nostalgia feel to the movies final act where the adults have to protect themselves and their children from the wild, raised-by-wolves kiddies that launch their vicious attack upon them. It also was an interesting change of pace seeing the killers in this movie be children instead of adults. It did work to atleast change and switch things up a bit.

And while it gave the movie atleast some slightly unique overtones, at the end of the day, the film is just bogged down by a lot of been-there-done-that sort of stuff, and the acting and performances aren't very strong either. So when you combine all of those elements, the movie is modestly flawed from the jump. "Offspring" is worth seeing if you are a fan of Ketchum's work, and like the film adaptations of his work. If you're tired of, or can't stomach the rural terror subgenre, then you might wanna skip this one.

Positives:The attack and action scenes work well because they aren't heavily scored, and do carry a decent amount of suspense to them.

Negatives:The movie comes at a time where rural terror movies are already overdone, and the performances are pretty weak.

Overall:Two out of four stars.





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