Since Scream reinvigorated the ailing
mainstream horror genre in the mid-90s, the slasher movie has been difficult to
do without putting an ironic spin on proceedings as audiences are all in on the
tropes and beats and expect a little more. Filmmakers Steve Balderson and
Elizabeth Spear clearly decided that ironic spin wasn’t nearly enough and have
paired slasher flick with soap opera in Hell Town. It’s presented,
credits and all, as the three surviving episodes of a lost TV series with each
one introduced by Troma star Debbie Rochon. The first ‘episode’ starts
with the now common televisual ‘previously on’ which quickly establishes the
tone and gets the plot rolling. Parody and satire in genre can be a
dangerous approach if you don’t get that tone right but Balderson and Spear,
along with a game and committed cast, get it spot on. From illicit trysts
via family secrets to unrequited love, no cliché is left unused. The arch
acting from the cast helps build the soap opera atmosphere, along with the
traditional stilted delivery and overblown score.
It’s also a slasher movie and as with
those soap opera clichés they go to (Hell) town with them. All the high
school characters are played by actors who whilst not heading for retirement
just yet are clearly not of high school age (nodding to things like Luke Perry
in Beverly Hills 90210). The perpetually horny teenagers that make up the
bulk of the cast are being picked off one by one by the Letter Jacket
Killer. There’s some fairly gruesome murders along the way and numerous
red herrings set up for who the killer could be. As it’s not actually a
TV show they’re free to add in plenty of salty language and gore when they want
to, even including the occasional dismembered member.
Despite it being a pastiche of both
genres Balderson and Spear, also part of the writing team, clearly have love
for both. It’s a delicate balance to acknowledge and have fun with the
conventions inherent in both slasher and soap, but harder still to remember
jokey self-awareness isn’t enough, you’re still making a film that needs to be
entertaining. Hell Town is thankfully adept at achieving both. Made
for less than the catering budget of a modest blockbuster, it’s well directed,
edited and for fans of either of the genres affectionately parodied there’s
plenty of clever little in-jokes.
Everything is not-so-neatly wrapped up by
the end, with the Letter Jacket Killer revealed, and it’s hard not to be
disappointed that the ‘next week on Hell Town’ isn’t real. As the big
studios focus on huge spectacle that they can sell to the four corners of the
globe and little else, it’s pleasing that adventurous filmmakers like Balderson
and Spear are producing low-budget, competent, exciting movies that are made by
film fans for fans of film. It’ll be interesting to see what they both
come up with next.
HELL TOWN / DIRECTORS AND SCREENWRITERS: STEVE BALDERSON &ELIZABETH SPEAR / STARRING: DEBBIE ROCHON, PLESANT GEHMAN, AMANDA DEIBERT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Expected Rating: 7 out of 10
Actual Rating: 
