Killbillies

Director - Tomaz Gorkic (M is for Music)
Starring - Nina Invanisin (A Call Girl), Lotos Sparovec (Inferno), and Nika Rozman (Bread nad Circuses)
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The hills are alive with the sound of...slaughter"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Being a member of several horror movie groups and living in West Virginia was rough in the early 2000s after Wrong Turn was released.  West Virginia has a tarnished past and that movie only added to it.  I actually enjoyed the first two installments of the series so I didn't care but people were quick to make fun of the fact.  Anyway, I love killers in the woods horror films and any kind of hixploitation I can find so when Artsploitation Films announced that they would be releasing the Slovenian horror film Killbillies I had to see it.  They sent over the press release and I immediately requested a review copy.  Thanks guys for sending this one my way.
     The film follows a two models, a photographer, and the photographer's assistant as they head out into the Slovenian wilderness for a photo shoot.  There is animosity between the two models, Zina (Invanisin) and Mia (Rozman), but the photographer Blitcz (Sebastian Cavazza) is able to get them to work together long enough to finish the shoot.  While they are set up and working in a meadow they are approached by two gentlemen with severe deformities.   He assaults Blitcz and knocks him out.  He awakens in a dark room with the three ladies when the two men come back in.  They kill Blitcz and take his assistant out of the room into another with a table where they strap her to it.  They then proceed to screw a device to the back of her head before turning her over so the blood could be drained which they use for their homemade shine.  One of the men goes back for Mia and Zina but they are able to kill him and escape.  The other man, Francl (Sparovec), is able to catch up with them and kills Mia but Zina gets the upper hand and kills him but her struggles are far from over.

     One underrated sub-genre of exploitation films to me is hixploitation.  I absolutely love hixploitation but most people don't find them as entertaining me.  Films like the first two Wrong Turn films, the Incest Death Squad trilogy,  The Hills Have Eyes, and so on are great viewing experiences.  They are bloody, gory, and the characters pull you in.  For me, it's the characters that make these so damn enjoyable.  When I received the press release for Killbillies I was more than excited to see it.  Would it be like the other films or would we have something new?  The acting in this one is great.  Nina Invanisin and Rozman are great.  Nina is the predictable final girl that is strong, sassy, and very easy on the eyes.  She is a strong lead that takes control of every scene she is in.  Rozman is great opposite of Nina.  He is an asshole that keeps her in check.  With that being said, Sparovec is the star of the show.  His character is a deranged drunk with a short fuse.  I loved his character.  The story for this one is one we have seen so many times before ranging from hixploitation, to slashers, and even dramas.  The story following people trespassing on someone's property and being slaughtered or harassed has been seen in films like Wrong Turn, The Hills Have Eyes, Deliverance, and countless more.  What sets this one apart from the others is that the killers do not eat or rape the outsiders.  Instead, they harvest their blood for their homemade liquor.  This was clever but did very little to set itself apart from the other films.  Also, the story lacks character development and back story.  Who are the hillbillies and why do they do what they do?  Finally, the film only has a few deaths but they milk them for everything they are worth.  The first kill we see is quick and nothing flashy.  A little blood and nothing else.  However, the second and third kill is fantastic.  The kills are not quick and we get to see the whole effect.   The effects for these kills are great as well.  In fact, they look so good I wish the film had more kills so we could see this amazing gore.  Overall, Killbillies is a surprisingly bloody film with some great kills and a villain that we will not be forgetting anytime soon.  Check it out.