Wreckage

Director - John Asher (Ralphie May: Unruly)
Starring - Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad, The Last House on the Left), Mike Erwin (Dexter, Hulk), and Cameron Richardson (The Evil Gene, Holy Ghost People)
Release Date - 2010
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The spare parts may be your own"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Last week was a shitty week for me when it comes to films and reviews.  I decided it was time to tackle the Killer 4 Pack that was sent to me from MVD.   All four films were horrible and a waste of time.  I followed those shitty reviews up with an erotic sci-fi flick from 1978 titled SexWorld.  That movie was surprisingly fun but I had been away from horror for far too long.  It was time to get back to my reviews but this time I was going to neglect the films that were sent to me for review and check one out that I have been wanting to watch for sometime now.  That film, Wreckage, was one that I had found while I was at my nearest FYE.  The film was $4 and starred Aaron Paul who is known for playing Pinkman on the amazing AMC series, Breaking Bad.  I loved the show and was curious to see how a slasher starring Paul would turn out.

     The film follows two couples who break down during a street race when a belt snaps.  They remember that they are near a junkyard and decide the best course of action is to break in and find one in one of the wrecked cars.  They are able to get in and start looking for a belt when Rick (Paul) starts shooting his gun.  One of his shots ricochets and hits his best friend's fiancee.  They all panic and his best friend runs to get help leaving Rick with his girlfriend and his friend's bleeding fiancee.  When he returns with the police and a doctor he can not find his friends anywhere.  However, the scene then turns grisly when they find Rick's girlfriend's body hanging.  She had died from a gunshot wound.  They then find Rick badly beaten and hiding in a car.  The authorities then rush to find the killer and the wounded girl but are they looking for the wrong person?
     I have seen hundreds and hundreds of slashers in my life with a good majority of them taking the same story known and loved by horror fans and turning them into their own.  However, a few try to take that formula and turn it into something out of the ordinary.  Wreckage tried to do that and almost failed.  The acting in this film is great by the entire cast but Aaron Paul's performance was a bit of a let down.  Mike Erwin, Cameron Richardson, and Kelly Kruger are great and make the film fun while giving us believable characters.  Sadly, Aaron Paul has a hard time creating his character and staying in it.  By this point he had been portraying Pinkman on Breaking Bad for a few years and it is evident he has a hard time turning that character off.  The story for this one is not the tired and true slasher story.  Your typical slasher follows a group of people, typically youths, as they are hunted down for something they had done to someone else.  The more modern slashers disregard that story line and places a group of people, typically twenty-somethings, into a situation with a weapon wielding killer.  This film follows the later but skips on the weapon wielding killer.  We also are given a slasher that is not menacing at all and almost ruins the horror feel.  Finally, the film has a few on screen kills that are original for the most part.  They are nothing bloody or amazing and the practical effects are decent at best.  Overall, Wreckage is a fun film at first glance but does not stand up to the typical slasher.  Check it out but take the film for what it's worth.