Main cast: Sophie Monk (Alexa Concannon), Tad Hilgenbrink (Tyler), Janet Montgomery (Serina), Alex Wyndham (Lalo), and William Sadler (Wilson Wyler Concannon)
Director: Dave Parker
I’m a fond of movies and shows that revolve around books or movies that are said to drive people to depravity, so in a way, it’s hard for me to dislike The Hills Run Red no matter how many problems it has. Oh boy, and it does have many problems indeed.
This one revolves around the slasher flick that shares the same title as the movie. This movie, directed by one Wilson Wyler Concannon, was banned practically everywhere due to how graphic the violence is, and the director has since vanished without any trace.
Tyler, an aspiring filmmaker obsessed with this movie, would love nothing more than to track down Concannon and, who knows, maybe get to know the man better and bask in the man’s genius. His obsession drives his girlfriend Serina to distraction and, eventually, the bed of his good friend Lalo.
Not that Tyler cares much should he find out about those two, because he’s distracted by the possibility that he has found a clue to Concannon’s whereabouts: Concannon’s daughter Alexa is a stripper at a nearby club. Talk about a small world, baby! He will find her, get her to lead him to her father, and together with Serina and Lalo, they will create a film about the man and the legend himself. What a great plan!
Too bad that finding Concannon also means finding the slew of terrible secrets and even monsters that were part of the creation of the movie.
Now, the problems of the movie: where do I start? There’s a good reason why Tad Hilgenbrink’s movie career doesn’t go the distance outside of cringe-filled straight-to-bin American Pie sequels: he has only one facial expression and tone throughout, even when he’s supposed to be scared, angry, et cetera. Alex Wyndham is barely a presence here, while Janet Montgomery looks and acts like she can’t wait for her scene to be over so that she can run off and scream into the phone at her agent for dragging her into this movie.
On the other hand, professional mess Sophie Monk, formerly of the girl group Bardot and currently in way too many Australian reality TV shows, plays a solid professional mess here. Alexa easily switches from a likable yet cynical mess to a cray cray and back again with ease, and she’s the only one of the four main cast members holding the movie together.
William Sadler is good too, but then again, he’s always good at playing the creepy bad guy. I’d be more shocked if he flopped at the role! He has some amusing lines about hating torture porn because there is no emotion to it, so it’s really a bloody shame that his role is not bigger here.
The gore is also solid, with the silent masked killer Babyface committing all kinds of bloody mayhem that any other silent masked killers out there would be proud of.
Unfortunately, the fun parts and William Sadler show up late in the movie, around the last third or so. Instead, I am subjected to the antics of Tyler and friends for way too long, and Alexa alone can’t save these parts from being on the dull side. Sure things get good when the going gets good, but it’s tad late by then and my attention has wandered far enough already.
Largely due to casting issues, The Hills Run Red starts the gorehound party way too late for it to be a riveting watch. It has its share of fun moments, but for the most part, this one only limps to the finish line.
