by Joel Harley
A masked madman roams a small English coastal town wielding a baseball bat while dressed like Mr. Punch. Meanwhile, young Frankie (Alina Allison) wants a fun night out on the town with her pals before she heads off to university. Mr Punch has other ideas, turning the quaint English resort into a bloodbath. What’s all this then?
This quintessentially British slasher film by Andy Edwards skimps on neither the gore nor the insidious state of misery in which most of Blighty resides. Although there’s a slow build-up to the carnage, Mr Punch quickly emerges as one of the slasher greats, beating and bludgeoning his way to the top.
There are shades of the first Terrifier to the masked monster’s bloody rampage, although the film is less try-hard and much less misogynistic than all that. Instead, Punch leans into a kind of folk horror, giving this slasher villain’s crimes something of a ritualistic bent. The squeaky voice, distinctive mask and baseball bat make Mr. Punch an instantly memorable antagonist – and one that horror fans should be clamouring to see more of in the future.
Punch is released on VOD in the UK on January 22nd, 2024.
