by Joel Harley
It’s Liz Hurley versus the Pied Piper of Hamelin. This is the long and short of what you need to know about Anthony Waller’s supernatural horror film, in which a plummy history teacher (Hurley) and her teenage daughter (Mia Jenkins) relocate to the small German town of Hamelin following a horrifying act of bloodshed.
The star of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Bedazzled is no stranger to the deeply silly genre movie and, make no mistake, Piper is a deeply silly genre movie. Waller and co-writer Duncan Kennedy bring with all the bells and whistles – including a scene in which Liz (playing a character named Liz) is attacked by a horde of rats on a train, shepherded by The Piper (or at least a vision of) himself.
Of course, The Piper’s thing is fiddling – sorry, piping – unsuspecting kiddies to their doom, and that’s where teen Amy comes in. As she falls for handsome local Luca (Jack Stewart), Amy begins to uncover the town’s dark past… and the sinister lies of her own mother. The heavy-handed score and some silly line deliveries ruin the modern fairy tale vibe Waller is going for (Hurley’s trying to call the cops on the Pied Piper of Hamelin is one for the ages), but its silliness is generally quite affable – a feature rather than a flaw. Whether Waller and Kennedy intended it as such is another matter, but it’s a sticking point that works in the film’s favour.
While the film doesn’t stray far from its Syfy/Hallmark-level performances and effects, a surprising meanness of spirit separates this one out – particularly where the murder of children is concerned. That and Liz Hurley, whose charmingly wooden performance somehow makes the daft shenanigans of the story an easier pill to swallow. Well, it is Liz Hurley versus the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Piper had its world premiere at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on August 27th, 2023.
