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"The Beast of Bray Road"
DVD
Leigh Scott launches
yet another remodeled classic horror pic for The Asylum with "The
Beast of Bray Road", another in The Asylum's growing series
of classically-inspired pictures.
So what we have here
is the partially true story of werewolves in Wisconsin. And the
new sheriff of Walworth County is the one who's got to face them
down. Apparently there's been a lot of killings in Walworth County,
something that's rather unusual for rural Wisconsin. The manner
of the killings, an extremely messy M.O., plus the various eyewitness
reports and the infighting inside the sheriff's department, makes
for an even more confusing scenario. And when the sheriff finally
gets to the bottom of things, what he finds will astonish him and
leave us all wondering just how true this is.
Now, naturally, whenever
someone says "based on a true story," I immediately begin
wondering how true it is. Asking a couple of buddies who lived in
Wisconsin all their lives turned up nary a thing, so I hit the web
for the rest of it. The handy thing is they actually feature headlines
from the "Waukesha Gazette" written by "A.B. McKorkendale",
among others, so it certainly LOOKS authentic.
At least, until one of
the articles comes up toward the end, credited to "Rick Walker"
and featuring an interview with "Local man David Latt."
Astute readers and viewers
will remember David Latt as being the fella who directed "H.G.
Wells War of the Worlds", covered here not so long ago. He's
also one of the three partners who owns and operates The Asylum
Home Entertainment.
Ironically, he also produced
this one. Nice try, Leigh. But anyway, about the movie.
I heard someone not long
ago compare The Asylum to the old British studio, Hammer. And I
guess in a very real way it's not so far from the truth, at least
not lately. This is the sixth updated horror concept from The Asylum.
"H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds" is self explanatory. "Frankenstein
Reborn," ditto. "Legion of the Dead" is just a redone
"The Mummy". "Hide and Creep" is a rebuilt "Night
of the Living Dead," now a bona fide classic and don't you
forget it. And Dracula gets his groove on once again in "Whatever
Movie That Is Involving Van Helsing."
Which makes me wonder
what they're going to dredge up next. The Thing from the Black Lagoon,
maybe? Or perhaps some good old fashioned ghosts? But if they get
Dave Chapelle to say "Ooooh Lawsy, this yere boy is a-scaird
of de ghosties!" I think I'm gonna have to boycott.
And what's up with the
bar at the fourteen and a half minute mark? "Pudweiser"
logos everywhere! What's wrong, couldn't you guys get any product
placement money out of the good folks at Bud?
Plus, you've got to love
the redneck's speech at the nineteen minute eight second mark. He
delivers it with such an odd, atonal speech pattern that I don't
think even HE believes what he's saying.
You know, overall, there's
not a whole lot wrong with "The Beast of Bray Road." This
isn't one of those special, spectacular ones that I can recommend
over and over again, but I tell you, if you're into monster movies,
especially werewolf pictures, then "The Beast of Bray Road"
is going to be right up your alley.
Even the bar fight. I
can't believe there's an actual, honest-to-God, Dukes-of-Hazzard
BAR FIGHT in the middle of a werewolf movie! Okay, yeah, it's set
in rural Wisconsin, but still.
The ending is about what
you'd expect from a movie like this, from the not-so-surprise cache
of illegal weapons in a country barn to the not-so-surprisingly
available amount of junk silver to the firefights and the inevitable
destruction of the werewolf. Though finding out who the werewolf
actually is is a bit of an actual surprise, and there'll be a couple
others packed in for a note of variety.
The special features
include a behind the scenes featurette, an outtake reel, cast and
crew commentary, audio options, and trailers for "Frankenstein
Reborn", "H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds", "Legion
of the Dead" and "The Beast of Bray Road."
All in all, despite some
extremely minor flaws, "The Beast of Bray Road" is going
to prove worth a rental. Especially if you love monster movies or
movies involving werewolves--and even if you don't, you'll still
find something to like.
OVERALL
GRADE: 3 stars ***
The Beast of Bray Road
***
DVD
Directed by
Leigh Scott
Written by
Leigh Scott
Starring
Jeff Denton
Tom Downey
Sarah Lieving
Joel Hebner
R
80 mins
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