Lucifer's Angels

Director - Ricky McDonald
Starring - Aris Bayizian, Vahan Bayizian, and Michael Allocco
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Not all angels are from heaven"
Format - Streaming (online screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     One thing I have learned over the last year and a half writing for Horror Society is that I will never know what film someone will request for me to review next. For the most part these films suck ass but sometimes I do find a decent peanut in the turd.  Recently, director Ricky McDonald emailed me about reviewing his film Lucifer's Angels.  I knew nothing of the film so I did a little googling and found the film's Facebook page.  The poster made the film feel bland extremely generic which made me not want to really watch it.  However, I have a rule of watching every film sent to me for review so I sat down and turned it on!
     The film follows a group of men in their mid-to-late twenties as they travel out into the woods for a little camping action. Coincidentally, a young couple is visiting the woods to do a little paranormal investigation due to a string of murders and disappearances.  Over the course of the night the group of young men encounter a woodsman and his son who warned them that the woods are not safe.  The group shrugs it off as if the two are crazy and drink it up.  The next morning they notice that one of their friends is missing and they soon cross paths with the young paranormal investigator who is now bloody and his girlfriend was murdered the night before.  The group then starts to believe what the two had told them the night before about three murderous men that was locked away in the nearby asylum and was murdered by the warden.  It is now up to everyone to fight for their lives to make it out of the woods.

     I stated earlier that before I say the film I just assumed it would suck ass.  Lots and lots of ass.  However, after the first few minutes I quickly realized that Lucifer's Angels was a true indie horror hit.  The film had style, story, brutal kills, and enough haunting atmosphere to rival the bigger budgeted flicks.  The acting in this one is hit or miss.  Sadly, the casting was not consistent.  The cast was great with the exception of a few men in the group going out to drink and this goes double for the testosterone filled driver.  He tries way too hard to show his dominance and it almost ruins the scene.  If he would have just kept his cool or tried to fit in with the others he possibly could have pulled it off but having his character try to be the hard ass or artificial "Guido" ruined most of the scenes.  The story for this one is fun and took one told a few times before and put a new spin on it.  The film honestly felt like a slasher tribute to Route 666 starring Lou Diamond Philips.  This was fun and has the capacity and longevity to become an indie franchise.  Finally, the film has some pretty impressive kills and special effects.  The kills are great but they are ones we have seen before so don't expect to see something new and revolutionary.  Overall, Lucifer's Angels is a great supernatural slasher that hits hard and doesn't let up.  Check it out because you will not be disappointed.