PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I remember having a glorious snow day from school one day when I was in the 10th grade and braving the elements to walk down the street to our local video store to see if they had any new horror movies. I spotted Edge of the Axe on the shelf and grabbed it immediately because I thought that it looked like a fun little slasher flick.
I got home and made some hot chocolate in the microwave before I popped the movie into the old trusty Quasar VCR that we owned, and kicked back to see people get chopped to pieces by a masked maniac who enjoyed dispatching his victims with an axe and hoped for the best.
So, was the movie as much fun as I thought it was going to be, or should I have just gone out and built a snow man in the backyard instead of watching it? Keep reading to find out…
Synopsis
A nerdy guy obsessed with computers tries to figure out who is responsible for a rash of violent murders in a small town as he also attempts to romance a college student who is traumatized by an event that took place years earlier.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Edge of the Axe. I was expecting just another run-on-the-mill slasher flick that I would forget about a couple of days after I watched it, but it turned out to be more than that. While it does have slasher flick elements to it, it also is more of a mystery movie than anything and the writing just works for the most part. I had a blast trying to figure out who the masked maniac running around with the axe was and thought that the big reveal at the end was quite awesome and included a neat little twist that I didn’t see coming.
Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz (Vampyres, Symptoms), this movie is just a cool little flick that kept me entertained from the opening credits and I think that it is a lot better than a lot of people give it credit for. The premise revolves around a masked murderer chopping up seemingly random people (mostly women) and a guy who is all into computers trying to figure out who the culprit is while he tries to get into the pants of a local woman named Lillian who is just as into computers as he is (who also has some mental health issues due to something that happened to her when she was younger).
One of the cool things about the movie is that there are several red herrings and anyone-including the main character-could be the killer and it is fun trying to figure out who is responsible for the murders and what the person’s motive is. I have always enjoyed horror films where you must figure out who the killer is before it is revealed in the end, and if you are into that as well then you will not be let down by this movie.
The acting is hit-or-miss by the cast, but it is passable for the most part and didn’t impact my enjoyment of the film in general. I just didn’t care for the main character Gerald, played by Barton Faulks (Future-Kill, Freeze) as he came off as arrogant and unlikable in my opinion. To his credit, Faulks tries his best to bring the character to life.
The same could be said for his pal Richard-played by Page Mosely (Seeds of Tragedy, The Jigsaw Murders)-as the character is just as equally unlikable and is more than a little pointless as he does absolutely nothing worth mentioning for the entire film. On the other hand, Christina Marie Lane (The Allnighter) does a fabulous job and is the star of the film if you ask me (plus she is a real cutie to boot). While the acting may leave a lot to be desired and some of the characters don’t quite work for several reasons, I was able to overlook it and still dug the movie regardless.
One of the biggest reasons I enjoyed this movie is because it boasts an impressive body count. A lot of people get killed as the film progresses, and a lot of the death scenes are quite brutal and look painful as Hell. All the victims are chopped up with an axe, and their death scenes are bloody, violent, and look realistic. I’ve got to hand it to the special effects team who worked on the movie as they did a fantastic job and all the axe murders that take place stand out and are unforgettable thanks to their shear brutality. They are so well-done in fact that I actually felt sorry for some of the victims as they were being killed, something that I rarely do while watching horror films.
As you can probably tell, I am mighty fond of Edge of the Axe. It may not be perfect as it has its share of flaws (including unnecessary animal deaths, which is never cool), but I think that it is just a neat little underrated slasher flick that came a little too late to the party as it was released during the dying days of the slasher craze. It’s an awesome movie with an interesting premise and a cool little twist at the end, and it’s worth tracking down as I have a feeling that anyone who checks it out will enjoy it as much as I do.
