my thoughts on.... 'The Lashman' (an original Creepercast site review)

As with all of my reviews of the independent films that we get sent here at The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of them out. I am one man and this is my opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciate for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....
I don't remember the first horror movie I ever watched, but my earliest memories them are from the monster magazines that used to sit in a forgotten box in the family room closet. A full page ad for 'Motel Hell' or a special effects article on 'Friday the 13th', I grew up on slasher films. They were everywhere in the 80's, you couldn't escape them.... just like you couldn't escape Michael Myers. For me they've always been the workingman's horror style. Simple, clean and brutal. There was never any need for a huge exposition on why the killer was killing or an elaborate plot to massacre the teenagers. It was all about sex, drugs and mayhem. If you had a mask, a distinct weapon and possibly a holiday to trigger your killing spree, then you had all the makings of a decent slasher film. It wasn't rocket science.
Over the years though, the art form was lost. It seemed that writers and directors kept wanting to re-invent the wheel. The problem is, why would you try and improve upon something that was already proven and tested and practically perfect? I get the Wes Craven methodology of wanting to breathe life in the genre and doing it by making it self aware. However, you can't over think a slasher movie, otherwise it'll lose the one thing that makes it a slasher.... simplicity. There's always exceptions to every rule and I fully understand this. Anyway, I've spent far too much time explaining my feelings on this particular genre of horror, but I wanted you to understand that I have a particular love of these types of movies. I always have. The only other horror genre I love more, is the zombie movie. But I'll save that discussion for another review.

'The Lashman' is an independent slasher movie written, directed and produced by Cameron McCasland. It's a simple throwback to the time when you had a handful of “teenagers”, a masked killer and a weekend in the woods. I've started to see these types of nostalgia movies popping up left and right in the past few years. People are going back to the well to appeal to the long since repressed memories of the movies we grew up with. The ones that we used to watch on VHS and hope that our mom didn't catch us or that the tracking would hold out during the upcoming sex scene. Cameron has filled this movie with references to the movies that came before. Like the crazy man in the beginning of the movie that's warning the kids about The Lashman. Not unlike Crazy Ralph from the original 1980 classic 'Friday the 13th', as played brilliantly by the late Walt Gorney. Or the scene where Jan looks out at Billy and asks him, “See something you like?” just like PJ Soles did in 'Halloween' (1978). These are just a couple of example's, but they're littered throughout the movie and I can appreciate Cameron for all the time and effort and subtle nods to each and every one of them.
The plot of 'The Lashman' is pretty straight forward and about as basic as you can get. 5 young people head out into the woods to spend the weekend at a cabin, where they plan on drinking and having sex. Once they get there, Billy tells them all a story about a madman nicknamed 'The Lashman'. A deranged killer who had been stalking the woods ever since he was beaten to near death with a whip, but was saved by a gypsy who gave him powers to seek revenge against those who'd wrongly wanted to kill him. The campers all take it at face value and think of it as just another local urban legend. What they don't realize is that The Lashman is all too real. He's already killed and is ready to kill again.

The movie opens with a couple being killed, but leaves us with very little clue as to how or why. From that point forward, it's about an hour before any more killing occurs. Before you dismiss this movie outright for not delivering a steady body count, let's take into consideration that Cameron is using all of this time to establish his characters. Given them each a personality and a back story, so that when they're killed.... you might actually care about them. Sadly, the constant talk and massive amount of time spent building up to the climax, made me lose interest in the characters that I was supposed to be caring about. I honestly think the movie would have played better, if there would have been some random slayings leading up to the finale. Nice idea, poorly executed. I think it fails because of the poorly written script and because of the wooden acting. Everyone seems as though they're doing a table read in the woods. 'The Lashman' also suffers from some serious pacing issues. It stutters and makes it difficult to get into the characters and scenes. A big chunk of this is due to the almost non-stop sound issues. I understand that it's a low budget movie and you have limited resources to work with, but Cameron's been making movies since 2008.... I would expect him to know better by now? Also, I'm not sure if the use of shaky cam was the best idea. It makes a movie, that was already showing it's amateur pedigree, even more low budget.
Despite the problems with this movie, it also has some good things going for it too. Cameron has a firm grasp on what needs to be done behind the camera to make professional looking establishing shots. It's very well filmed and edited together. That's one of the few things that kept my attention the whole way through. He also has a fairly compelling background story for 'The Lashman'. Sadly, the character himself is massively underwhelming. He's basically a reject from the cast of 'Tombstone', with bloody bandages over his face.... in a duster. How could this ever be scary or menacing? I have no clue. Perhaps the thought process was based about his weapon of choice, the bullwhip. This was supposed to be the hook, the thing that set this one apart from all the others. Too bad this weapon doesn't lend itself well to the slasher genre. Maybe if the whole thing was treated more as a satire, then I would have gotten the joke. The idea of a slasher, with no weapon for actual slashing. Irony perhaps?

In the end, 'The Lashman' leaves more to be desired than to be praised. I give Cameron credit for bringing his vision to life and making the movie he set out to make, but I'm left feeling like I deserved a deformed killer in a mask. If this is truly going to be a throwback to a simpler time, then give us the killer we expect and deserve. Not just a man who looks like a cross between 'Darkman' and the Marlboro Man. I'd give this movie 2 out of 5 stars. Both of which are for his cinematography and effort, not for the end result. 'The Lashman' doesn't need or deserve a sequel, but it's set up in the end for one anyway. I'm hoping the gypsy curse will wear off long before then.
Oh, yes.... one final thing. If you've going to have your lead actress scream at the end, make sure she keeps screaming until you say, “Cut!” or edit the shot so it looks like she's screaming until the credits roll. That is all.

If you want other original 80's slashers, check out: 'The Burning', 'Friday the 13th' (1980) or 'Madman' (1982) also if you want an amazing series of over the top 80's throwbacks? Watch the 'Hatchet' trilogy.