In the Hell of Dixie

Director - Eric F. Adams
Starring - Austin T. Adams, Eric F. Adams (Night of the Demons), and Joaquin Adams
Release Date - 2016
Genre - Gorror
Tagline - "Wild game can also be human"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Sometimes I get films in to review and the title and artwork instantly hook me.  Titles and artwork can open your imagination and make you wonder about what the film is about, especially if you have never heard of it before.  Lately I have been getting lots of movies that I have never heard of before and the artwork and title had made my mind race about what the film could be about or what kind of film I would be watching.  Not long ago I got a package from Alternative Cinema.  There was several films in the package but the one that stood out to me was In the Hell of Dixie.  This little play on words intrigued me considering I grew up in the mountain state surrounded by southern culture.  After I got caught up on a few films sent to me for review I went ahead and tossed this one in to see if it was as fun as I had hoped.

     The film follows a hunting club who head out to their lodge for a little hunting, drinking, and some white-tail if you know what I mean.  The hunting club members, along with members of the local community, turn up dead sending the police in to investigate.  Soon a deputy is dragged into the murders as a suspect when things from his past surface.  Now the remaining members of the hunting club must fight for their lives against a killer dressed in a white dress.

     In the Hell of Dixie was not the film I thought it would be.  The film was a slow moving character piece with shitty characters and a story that needed more than an hour cut from it.  The acting in this one was not the best.  Some of the cast showed some real talent but lacked the motivation or drive to make their characters believable while others, honestly, did not need to be in front of the camera.  They made no attempt at acting and just spit their dialogue out.  The cast was not consistent or on the same level.  The story for this one is one we have seen so many times before in a slasher flick.  A group of people head out into the woods, discover an old urban legend, and then find out that the urban legend is real.  This is just like Friday the 13th, Madman, The Forrest, and so many more.  It offers up no originality and is hard to follow at times with random ass flash backs that look nothing like a flash back.  Finally, the film has several on screen kills if you are able to sit through the first hour and a half of film.  Yes, you read that correctly, an hour and a half.  The film is over 2 hours long and the kills do not start until the last 30 mins.  The kills are not that impressive but they do have some solid practical effects and full of blood.  Overall, In the Hell of Dixie is an unoriginal movie that is poorly written.  The cast is a mess to watch and the film's lack of original kills will disappoint any horror fan.  I can not recommend this one.