[Plague Town]
Plot:A dysfunctional family's vacation to the Irish countryside that encounters a village of diseased, deformed and decidedly homicidal residents.

Cast:Josslyn DeCrosta, Erica Rhodes, David Lombard, Lindsay Goranson, Elizabeth Bov, James Warke.

My Thoughts:So.....huh?

Review:"Plague Town" is another indie horror example of the horrible things that can happen when city people venture into the rural territories. In other words, it's a "been there, done that" horror film. The movie follows an american family who venture to the Irish countryside for vacation. It isn't long though before they are beseiged by the countryside's ghoulish residents. Think Ireland meets "House Of 1000 Corpses". This film has so many cliches running through it it's quite sad.

It seems some indie filmmakers aren't even trying anymore. "Plague Town" has tolerable and in some cases, likeable characters. But these characters, albeit more developed than the average indie horror fodder types, are basically not given much to do in this film. They are left to be picked off one by one by the countryside's lunatic fringe, who are the result of some sort of crazy babymaking experiment gone wrong.

Which reminds me, lets stick to making babies the old-fashioned way shall we? As in leave science out of the process. Science has it's merits definitely, but in a horror film, no good can ever come of it. The blood and gore in the movie are limited to mostly night time scenes, another flaw within the films makeup. There's nothing worse than pitch-dark scenes where someone's being eaten, gutted, or both, but thanks to the time of day, you can't get the full visual of the moment.

In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a horror film where more night time death scenes were present than this one. It's really a waste, and the villains don't even have a real motive beyond they're deformed, crazy, and inbred. How many times have we seen that in a rural horror movie, or a horror film set in the Irish countryside? Which by the way, when we americans see horror films with bad situations, it's always the heartland where the city kids venture and end up getting sliced and diced.

But in the case of euro-horror, it's either the Irish or British countryside. It's starting to become a habit, which I don't mind, or wouldn't mind, if all of these movies didn't look the same. The only characters in this movie that you'll find yourself rooting for to survive will be the two sisters, who start off at each others throats, but once the bad guys show up, and start attacking everyone, they quickly band together to survive.

However this isn't helped by the subplot of the younger, goth-looking sister being prone to hallucinations due to some sort of psychological problem, which the writer never really feels the need to epand upon beyond a few insults thrown at her by the older sister, and some vague dialogue referring to it. But what really hurts this film is the poor storytelling.

And while I can appreciate a survival story where some regular people encounter lunatics in the woods, and have to engage in bloody battle to survive and escape with their lives and personal well-being, I don't appreciate nor can I appreciate one which doesn't craft the story well enough, tell the story well enough, nor build it's own design, and add something cool, new, or intriguing to the scary ghouls, bad guys, or rednecks.

This film follows the book, as in the adults are clueless, and the kids are too trusting to know that in small, countryside towns, EVERYONE is in on the "attack". Which is obviously put forth in one scene which mimics many other horror films, where the girls accept a ride from someone who claims to want to "help" them, but as a viewer, we all know different now don't we? "Plague Town" ends on a really crazy and confusing note.

As well as a pretty stomach-turning one. This movie however predictable and cliche as it is, does not offer any good times, fun, or great moments. What's to be proud of or happy with here? Nothing really, expect of course....the end credits. When they rolled, I yelled..."Hallelujah!"

Positives:Nothing much beyond the two sisters being likeable characters every now and then.

Negatives:A story that makes no sense and goes nowhere, most of the deaths take place during the night, really dumb adult characters, really naive younger characters, and the villains were very lame.

Overall:One out of four stars.





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