First Annual Barbecue

Director - Steve Merlo (Follow Your Heart)
Starring - Brian C. Taylor (Gabriel), Torsten Nogel, and Josh Lentz
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Inspiration can come from anywhere or anything.  People draw inspiration from dreams, listening to a song on repeat, or even from their favorite films and television shows.  Some are so inspired by their favorite films they set out to make their own incarnation of these films which is where the fan film movement comes into play.  Many want to take some of our favorite stories and characters and give them their own stories different from the official releases.  Recently, I saw a post about a Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired horror short titled First Annual Barbecue.  I really like he story behind TCM so I reached out to director Steve Merlo and he was kind enough to hook me up with a link to the online screener.  Thanks Steve for giving me a chance to see the horror short!

     The short follows several individuals who are looking for the First Annual Barbecue after seeing signs for it on the main road.  An old man in a truck tells them where it can be found and then mentions an old abandoned house near it.  He then warns them all not to go in it.  They ignore him and enter the home only to be butchered by a man wearing a giant apron and wearing human skin as a mask.  

     Fan films are something I am new to after watching my very first fan film last summer thanks to Studio 605 and their Friday the 13th fan film.  I was surprised by how much that fan film could accomplish so I started checking out others which is why I wanted to check this film out.  I was curious how they would handle the TCM story.  However, after giving it a watch I have to say I was not happy with the route they chose to go.  It offered us a different take on the first half of the original TCM but without the dark imagery and disturbing events.  The acting in this film is indie good.  The entire cast has a great camera presence but lacked experience in front of the camera.  They all have the talent to make acting a career for them all if they just had the drive to do so.  I really enjoyed the cast.  The story for this short is almost the same as the first half of the original TCM but not as disturbing.  Instead of grotesque shots of roadkill and radio transmissions of mass graves being found we are given beautiful shots of a crisp blue sky, clean teens with no sweat (all the characters in the original TCM has sweat stains showing how hot Texas really is), and clean cut characters with the exception of Leatherface, or the killer as he is labelled on imdb.com. The film lacked all the elements that made the original so much fun.  Finally, the film does have a few on screen deaths but nothing spectacular or new.  We get the classic cattle kill from the original TCM where Leatherface hits the young man in the head with a mallet.  We also get the meat hook snag which is one of the more memorable moments in the original film but that is about as far as the film goes.  Nothing bloody or gory for the rabid TCM fan.  The practical effects are at a minimum in this film with just some blood splatter here and there.  That is very close to how TCM did their effects but now-a-days that is just not enough for the everyday horror fan. Overall, First Annual Barbecue is a rambunctious film that tries to capture the allure of death like the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre but is unable to do so.  The film is well acted which helps it flow well.  Fans of TCM may still want to see it because it is at least worth one watch.