Death Factory

Death Factory

Well I had just spent the weekend watching stacks of low budget indie genre flicks, some good - some truly bad but each and every one with the same basic plot scenario�get four young folk, take them into a secluded situation and have them all killed one by one. So as I popped 'Death Factory' into my DVD player I was hoping that at least if I am faced with the same obviously overused plot then at least there would be some tension and visceral eye candy to boost our viewing pleasure�

The film opens (not suprisingly) with the intro mood setter as a canoodling couple stroll into an old abandoned factory and no prizes for guessing that they are about to meet a sticky end. No complaints here though as the always welcome mix of boobs, blood and gory maiming will sate any horror fan through the old run of the mill scenario. As we begin the film proper we meet our (yet again no surprises) varied selection of genre movie over age teens and would you believe they're planning to have themselves a kick ass party full of drink, drugs and debauchery�the location for this party? Yes, the old abandoned factory where again inevitably a bloody fate awaits our hapless teens.

Ok, you don't need to be a brain surgeon to realise that we've just strayed yet again into that uncanny Twilight Zone that is the gang of teens in a perilous bloody 'pick em off one by one' scenario but crucially does it work as entertainment here because at the end of the day we horror fans don't mind the unoriginal plots as long as we get the gory goods. Well at least for a change for me in this repetitive marathon is the fact that there are three couples up for killing and not the usual two. The killer this time round is not your deformed serial killer or even a demon but a diseased drug worker back from the dead in the form of a wired clawed killer ready to maim and gore her hapless victims.

Plotwise even Scooby and Shaggy wouldn't hang around for long but we want to see these kids die and thankfully they do, but not before they indulge in the prerequisite topless hanky panky and even then nothing really kicks off (outside of the warm up intro) until the last half hour or so. The deaths are nice and bloody, in fact in gouts of spraying blood seems more to be the order of the day rather than extensive use of gore (though there are some brief moments of gouging to keep you smiling). The direction is pretty impressive throughout and does its best to maintain some nice atmosphere but given that the majority of the cast performances are as wooden as they come you wont really care about any of the characters (more so as they don't have much development either) rather than simply wish for their bloody demise to be painful and slow.

So it's mixed feelings about 'Death Factory' - on one hand the director shows great promise in the way of style and promise for future productions, the film itself is at times similarly stylish and very bloody to boot but utilising the same old set piece and derivative plot formula with such a cold cast performance may leave some wanting for more. That said, if you walk into this one knowing what to expect and with little expectations you may find some gratifyingly simple genre viewing fun.

This disc from Cryptkeeper is yet another solid and attractive presentation, more so considering the low budget origins of the production I was quite impressed with the good clean clear image and perfectly sharp 2 channel audio sound. As for extras, there's the always welcome trailer that sells the film very well indeed with promise of some sort of low budget hybrid of Demons and the third installment of the Return of the Living Dead series, of course it's not in these babies league but a decent enough attempt anyway. Rounding things off is a three minute behind the scenes segment, it's a shame that this section only ran for three minutes too as just as I was warming to it (and hence warming to the movie too) it came to an abrupt close.

Perhaps having spent all weekend watching derivative teens in peril flicks gave 'Death Factory' an unfair viewing but those of you who have a high tolerance level for such run of the mill (albeit bloody) genre fodder might find this fun. Another one for a rainy day rental.

Review by Alan Simpson

'Death Factory' can be ordered direct from Cryptkeeper by clicking here.


 
Released by Cryptkeeper
Rated 18 - Region All (PAL)
Extras :
Trailer, Behind the Scenes
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