Caught Up In A Feud

Caught Up In A Feud

Bruce Von Stiers

An armed robbery that goes terribly wrong. Finding a safe place to hide out. But the safe place isn't really safe. And double-crossing members of the robbery crew. Seems like a god storyline for a crime drama. But what if you throw in monsters and creatures who inhabit a specific location? And what if the monsters and creatures are caught up in a centuries old feud? That forms the basis for the action/thriller/horror film titled A Hard Place.

The film opens with a woman, Barbara, who wakes up in the bed of a pickup. People are wandering around, seemingly in a daze. Then zombies attack those people. A woman is attacked, and her insides are eaten. But Barbara is saved by this badass Asian woman, Zuri.

But just as you think this is a zombie film, things change. The audience learns that this is a film at a drive-in. So, a film within a film kind of thing. A man and a woman, Fish and Steve, are in a car, watching the film. And waiting for something. That something is a robbery going on at the drive-in concession stand.

Things go wrong during the robbery. One of the robbers, Candy, shoots the concession stand person. That incident starts a whole series of downhill events for the robbery crew. The people in the crew were a guy named Hurt, Candy, a guy named White, Fish, Steve and an older woman named Zenia.

Zenia knows of a place where they can lay low until the heat is off of them. It is some farm way out in the boonies. But there is something not quite right at that farm. Steve goes off into the woods to go to the bathroom and is attacked by some kind of monster. Who then tears Steve apart. The monsters go to attack Zenia, who had been looking for Steve. But two guys save her from the monsters.

Although there was some gore in the zombie scenes earlier, this is the first incident of gore involving the main characters in the film. I didn't mention this before, but there is a bunch of blood and gore in the film. In fact, one of the press releases for the film states that it has “blood, guts and guns.”

The crew meets Naja who won't help them. Candy shoots her. That sets up a whole new set of problems for the crew. Monsters try to get them, but Naja helps them escape.

There are several plot lines that are separate yet are interlocking. Candy, Hurt and White are helped by a group of people who kill some of the monsters. Helping the crew escape, Naja is seemingly killed, along with Fish. But they survive and have an attraction towards each other. They almost share a romantic moment.

As the film progresses, there are several people who come together at a farm house. It appears that they are all family, a clan, held together under one matriarch, Henrietta. The film reveals that the clan is in a centuries-old feud with the monsters, who are called the Guardians. The clan call themselves the Caretakers. There was something that caused the feud to come about. Later in the film, the members of the clan become something other than quite human.

Some of the characters were kind of cornball simplistic. As in, not as dumb as a rock, but almost. There were some shrewd characters like Naja and homicidal characters like Candy. There was an impish young woman named Odie, whose infatuation with Hurt doesn't end well for her. Hurt is a hardened criminal type, but good looking enough to infatuate Odie. There is the matriarch, Henrietta, who rules the clan with an iron fist. There is Zenia, who is constantly worried, but there's something going on there that isn't quite right. And then there is Fish. She is the least criminally inclined of the robbery crew and seems to be very vulnerable. Fish and Naja have this immediate attraction towards each other, but every potential romantic moment gets thwarted.

There were a lot of actors in this film. Some of them have been a staple in the horror film genre for a while. Felissa Rose played the clan matriarch. From Sleepaway Camp to Slashercise, she has made a name for herself in the horror film world. Sadie Katz played the blonde woman, Barbara, in the film within the film. She is known for films such as End Times, Death Club and The Beast Within. Jennifer Stone played Candy. Horror films she's starred in include Blood Sombrero, Strix and Neon Fear. Angel Nichole Bradford played Odie. She is one of the newer scream queens. From Amityville Ripper to a film I recently reviewed, Night of The Dead Sorority Babes, she has a whole slew of horror films under her belt. Early in her film career, Lynn Lowry starred in The Crazies and Shivers. She's amassed well over a hundred screen credits, including two films I reviewed, Ready For My Close Up and Night of The Dead Sorority Babes.

Rachel Amanda Bryant played Fish. She has been in comedies and dramas, along with thrillers such as In Bed With A Killer. And she also wrote and starred in a great short thriller film I reviewed titled Vexed. Ashley Undercuffler played Naja. She has over fifty screen credits, including the horror films Craving and Alone In The Night.

Keven Caliber played Hurt. His previous horror film credits include Craving and Desert Moon. Bai Ling played Zuri of the film within a film thing. With around a hundred-fifty screen credits, she's starred in horror films such as Desert Fiends and Down Below.

Other actors with supporting roles in the film were Scott Alan Ward, Steven Morris, Miranda Bourke, Natalia Santacoloma, John Charles Dickson, Michael Lawrence, George Tounas, Yevgeny Jack Berner, Glenn Plummer, Kellen DeRuy, Jamie Baker, Erica Dyer, Andrew Laabs and JoJo Payne. There was also John Potash, Jeff Webb, Zera Lynd and several other actors.

Jason Horton directed the film. He previously directed such horror films as Craving, VHS Violence and The Campus. He also directed several documentaries including 420 Nurses. He also co-wrote the screenplay.

Kody Newton was the film's cinematographer. He previously directed films such as Trance and The Gray Box. And he was the cinematographer for The Death of Snow White.

Michael J. Epstein was the other screenwriter for the film. He's directed a bunch of films and wrote the screenplay for Clickbait and Blood of the Tribades.

In his Director's Statement, Jason Horton says that this film is his “big swing”. His goal was to “create an epic monster vs. monster movie that redefines the scope of indie horror”. At various theatrical screenings earlier this year, the audience reactions to the film seem to bear out this goal.

The cinematography was well done. The acting was also very good, especially Rachel Amanda Bryant's portrayal of the vulnerable Fish, the sorrowful demeanor of Lynn Lowry's character and Felissa Rose's harsh matriarch. And Jennifer Stone and Kevin Caliber did well with their roles.

As for me, I thought that this was a decent horror film. It takes a tried and true staple, a feud between two factions, and adds a solid horror angle. There is a fair amount of grizzly gore, with entrails ripped out and eaten, heads reduced to pulp and blood splatters everywhere. Good, gut heaving, revolting gore.

So, if you like a good horror film that has a lot of gore and a sliver of potential romance, A Hard Place should definitely be on your watch list.

A Hard Place will be available on VOD and streaming platforms such as Prime and Apple TV on May 27 th .

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