Summer, the best time of the year. You can walk naked wherever you want ( at least here in Sweden ), do some fishing, light up that barbecue, listen to all your favourite Westlife albums ( that means all albums of course, they have never made a single bad album, trust me ). Summer is that time of year when you don´t have to worry about anything, since the sun is the answer to all problems. Unfortunately, we only have 10 sunny days in Sweden, but when we do get them, we lie there for at least 7 hours. Every summer i have a tradition, and that is to check out independent horror films in many different categories. No matter if we are talking about cannibal horror, demon horror, supernatural horror, i am open for all options. Even if i enjoy most releases for different reasons, i do come across some bad ones as well. And when you go into low budget films, you can´t have too high expectations, since you know that there is always a chance that you might be disappointed. Sometimes though you come across an independent horror film, that you had no expectations at all, and is pleasantly surprised. One of the films that comes to my mind, is the 2014 found footage horror film The Houses October Built from director Bobby Roe. I remember picking this film up on Blu Ray from Germany ( where the film is called Houses Of Terror, also called The Houses Of Halloween on DVD in the UK ), as i never watched any trailer for the film. Since i did not know much at all about the plot, i wanted to give this film a chance since the DVD cover looked cool. And it turned out to be a pretty descent found footage horror film. Definetely worth picking up on DVD if you enjoy films with a Halloween theme, or enjoy found footage horror films. There is a sequel that i have not seen yet, but i will probably check it out at some point. As i were going through different independent horror films that i have not seen, i came across a title called Extremity. Not knowing much about the plot, i decided to give this film a chance. Is this a film that turned out to be better than i expected, or is this just as bad as The New Kids On The Block member Danny Wood´s solo album Second Face from 2003 ( wich proves why boy bands have a problem doing solo albums ) ?
Allison Belle ( Dana Christina ) is obsessed with horror, and decides to subject herself to hours of grueling torment inside an extreme haunt in an atempt to confront her fears. What she does not know, is that this will not be as easy as she might have expected.
Ever since i first read about the plot about Extremeity, i did feel that this film could be interesting. Unfortunately, there are some big issues with this film that should have been fixed before the film was finished. I like the idea behind a building, where you sign a contract to allow yourself to be used, and abused, for the ultimate horror experience, no matter what this means could happen.. And here is where my biggest problem with this film becomes clear, when you don´t really feel that the experience is scary, or that the chosen people are in any danger. If they really wanted to make this the ultimate horror experience, thy should have crossed the limit, and done somethng really brutal or horrifying. There are a few scenes that are alright, where they actually find the right tone for the plot, but they never really explore ways to torture further more than just doing it very simple. I have a feeling that Extremity would have worked much more effective if they would have taken some chances, and surprised the audience instead of making too soft decisions. I wonder what the Japanase news reporter team is doing here, since they don´t really feel like they fit in with the plot. I do have a few positive things to say about Extremity though, and let us begin to talk about how good this film looks. Knowing that this film have a limited budget, i have to say that i am impressed with how professional this film looks. Especially in the most colorful scenes, and it feels like the budget is more bigger than what it actually is, and that does help the film stand out from the crowd of independent horror films. I enjoy lead actress Dana Christina as the character Allison Belle, and she actually tries to do something interesting with her character. Actor Nikki Rae Hallow´s character Erica seems to be an interesting character, i wish we knew more about. Extremity does have some good things going for it, especially when it comes to certain interesting characters. But the horror experience falls pretty flat, and i wish we would have gotten more. Director Anthony DiBlasi ( who directed the great independent horror film Last Shift from 2014 ) have some interesting ideas surrounding Extremeity, but he should have been more extreme with the horror elements. With a title such as Extremity, this film comes across as very soft. Worth checking out if you want to see something different in independent horror films, but still not a film i can highly recommend.
Rating: DD
If you want to check out Extremity on Blu Ray, you can get it here from Epic Pictures, and you get special features as well:
https://epic-pictures.com/merchandise/extremity-blu-ray
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