The Lurking

Director - Rob Michels (Hole in the Wall)
Starring - Jason Phelps, Shayne White, and Samantha Haag
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     There was a time in the early 90s that horror fans believed that the slasher sub-genre had died.  The slashers then re-emerged in the mid 90s as a mockery of itself with a more self-aware story line that poked fun at the slashers of the golden age.  What the main stream horror fans didn't know was that slashers never left.  Studios no longer wanted to back theatrical releases and filmmakers turned to video to release their slashers resulting in the S.O.V. movement that is cherished to this very day with several films still being released that try to capture what made these films so enjoyable.  A few nights back director Rob Michels reached out to me to check out his new slasher The Lurking.  I knew of Michels but had never seen his work before which is sad considering how much praise his segment in Hole in the Wall gets from fans and critics.  I jumped at the chance to check out this no budget slasher.

     The film follows two stoners who head out into the woods for a little drugging and drinking.  While in the woods they encounter several people.  Some fishing, others jogging, some are looking to show off their dick and get high.  However, the people they encounter soon meet their demise at the hands of an unseen evil that is stalking the foliage.  The two stoners are unaware at all the carnage unfolding around them and continue to party it up until that evil set their sights on the two.


     Shot on video, or S.O.V. horror, was known for being low budget but nothing was off limits.  Anything could go and it usually did.  The Lurking is another low budget slasher that tries very hard to capture that look and feel of a S.O.V. horror flick and for the most part it it succeeds.  The acting in this one is surprisingly well down considering how the film was shot.  Most of the film is two men sitting around getting fucked up and these two gentleman pull that off flawlessly.  With that being said, when it came to interact with one another and other cast members these two did a great job as well.  The remainder of the cast did a decent job moving the story along but these two leads were great and I can see why they were cast.  The story for this one is nothing we haven't seen before.  The film follows people in the woods doing things that are morally corrupt and are then murdered.  However, most of these slashers that followed people getting murdered in the woods never offered up a pair of stoners as entertaining as these two.  The story is easily Fubar meets Friday the 13th and I love that.  Finally, the film has several on screen kills.  The kills use gags that were common among 80s slashers.  The kills were fun because of this but they were nothing we haven't seen before.  The practical effects we get for these kills are very minimal and are just enough to pull the kill off.  Sadly, this was a bit of a disappointment for me.  I would have loved to see some kills in line with a Tim Ritter flicker.  Overall, The Lurking is a great slasher for the fans of Cheech and Chong.  Fans of stoner comedies and S.O.V. will love this one.  Check it out just don't expect a bloodbath.