Meathook Massacre (2015)
Meathook Massacre (2015) is an ultra low budget B-Horror about 3 young women encounter car trouble on the way to a Dragonsclaw concert during a rainstorm. They are forced to go seek help, where one by bloody one they are attacked by a masked maniac and hung on meathooks. Written and Directed by Dustin Ferguson and starring nobody currently popular, Meathook Massacre could be loosely referred to as a late night B-horror homage to the VHS format. Actually it’s even being billed as “shot on S-VHS” which is apparently some new fangled video media format that I doubt will rival my trusty Betamax. But that is what makes this 60 minutes of glitchy grainy tracking issued film interesting. That and the use of music, attempted time placement of 1989, and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reimagining a decade after TCM takes place and relocated to farmville Nebraska.
The music is what drives and creates the film. From the clearly self indulgent Zombilly theme song to the characters love of the 80’s style almost Iron Maiden-ish Dragonsclaw. It’s the journey to a concert that actually starts the issues for our 3 girls in the description. Before we get to the meat of the story though we can’t overlook the late night movie opening, the TCM backstory text, and the long shots of our main girl jamming out to her favorite band before going to see them. The latter seeming more like a music video for Dragonsclaw rather than a build up to unfortunate circumstances. Kudos to Ferguson’s attempt at recreating 1989, although there were times it seems desperate. Meathook Massacre also has times when you can’t help but wonder why you’re still watching if for no other reason than pure fixation. Like the whole 3 to 5 minutes we are literally watching one of the girls sitting on the couch as she is watching a music video. But I dig the music and the uncomfortableness of the scene which may be Ferguson’s way of reminding us we are voyeurs to this girls inevitable doom. Yeah, I know, I always try to find the artistic reasoning in everything whether it exists or not.
Ultimately, Ferguson is no newbie to B-horror, with quite a few titles to his credit over the last 7 years. Although it would be difficult to say Meathook Massacre succeeds on all fronts, it didn’t utterly fail either. Which in a way makes it mediocre with potential for greatness. I mean our leatherface killer is well portrayed and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the pig noises he made. In the end what we have is an homage to Texas Chainsaw Massacre that treads a fine line. But to be fair there is a sequel to consider.
Meathook Massacre 2 (2017)
Meathook Massacre 2 (2017) takes place 10 years after the events of the original film, a rash of new meathook-murders makes Dan suspect this may be the same Killer responsible for the death of his twin Sister and her friends. Ferguson is still in control creatively but the film now seems to have Scream Queen power with D-listers Deborah Dutch (Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, Death Dancers) and Dawna Lee Heising (Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, Road to Hell, Ten Violent Women Part Two, Canaan Land) rounding out the cast. The film kicks off with a previously on the Meathook Massacre look back at the highlights of the first film. As we kick into the continued adventures of the hook killer the video is slightly better, straying away from the gimmicked “shot on S-VHS” and going more for the grindhouse grainy to clear to extreme close ups and cutaways. In the midst of all that we are given a spectacle of murders and mayhem of the Meathook family. Our introduction to Dan is strange as a housefull of people appear to murdered around him as he sits in angsty stupor. But finally he grabs a rifle and sets out to take revenge for the death of his sister who isn’t actually dead, metaphorically and spoilerifically speaking. The rest is more music from Dragonsclaw and a few others that is actually pretty fitting, and a slew of almost homage like references, or just plain reenactments.
I have to say that I strongly believe the Meathook Massacre franchise has great potential. The less than B quality filmmaking, writing, and acting barely falls behind an Asylum film but Ferguson does manage to weave a parody of sorts into his own story line. Meathook Massacre 2 borrows heavily from House of a Thousand Corpses with the dynamics of the killer family, slips in a little The Hills Have Eyes, a whole lot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and even lifts the money line from The Strangers. I prefer to see all this is less than a true homage and more of a reimagining for Ferguson’s own needs. But in the end I fear it fails to separate itself from those it seeks to emulate. If this is by design than I am sure Meathook Massacre 3 will let us know. In the meantime the franchise comes from filmakers that know a lot about B-horror and so far each film gets decidedly better even by our independent standards.
Available now at Amazon…
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