Drifter

Director - Joe Sherlock (Frames of Fear, Channel 99)

Starring - Dave Bowers (Blood Creek Woodsman), John Bowker (Beyond the Wall of Fear, Platoon of the Dead), and Sonya Davis (Death Pool, Vengeance for Chloe Darling)

Release Date - 2014

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "The madness is coming..."

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I recently found myself having one of the wildest and entertaining marathons I’ve had in a while. Sometime back I came into contact with filmmaker Joe Sherlock. I had been friends with him on social media for a number of years but I had never seen any of the films he produced and directed under his label Skullface Astronaut. These are films I had heard about for sometime but I never had the opportunity to check them out until he slid into my messages when I made a post about my October horror binge. He was kind enough to send over a dozen or so of his films to review. I didn’t know where to start so I began with the first movie on the list and worked my way down in order in which he sent them. That meant I was watching Drifter first. I want to thank Joe for sending this one over. 

      The film follows a real estate agent who is tasked with selling a home with a horrible past. Known locally as Blood House, many refuse to see the home which has forced him to do some remodeling, cleaning, and other tactics in hopes of getting people to look passed it’s bleak history. However, he doesn’t know that a deranged drifter is squatting in the vacant home and everyone that finds their way inside meets a bloody end. 

      Drifter is one of those films that is so fucking simple that it pisses you off that you didn’t come up with the idea first. It works especially if you are into no budget indie flicks that doesn’t shy away from the blood and nudity. Most of you confuse liking a movie to comparing it to some of the best genre title to exist. You can like films and not compare them to films like Pumpkinhead and Night of the Demons. A no budget film is not going to have a same impact as a studio picture with a budget. However, they can still be enjoyable which is what the Drifter is. The acting in this one is solid but does have some room for improvement. The cast is very dedicated to their roles and it looks like they are having a lot of fun in front of the camera but inexperience is evident. The dialogue in some of the scenes are very awkward while the delivery is a bit unnatural. They are forcing the dialogue out instead of finding their character and performing. It doesn’t ruin the film but these scenes do lose some of their impact because of it. The story for this one is straight to the point and a little repetitive but I fucking loved it. It’s effective and works especially for a first time viewing. We have a drifter squatting in a house who kills repair men, cleaning ladies, teens looking for somewhere to party, and so on. It’s a simple set up for a body count but it does get a bit repetitive but what great slasher doesn’t? Finally, the film has several death scenes with some blood and light make-up effects but that is the extent of it. The kills fit the film very well but for those of you looking for detailed gore and awe inspiring effects will surely be disappointed. Overall, Drifter is for fans of indie horror or horror films with a lot of blood and nudity. I highly recommend it.