REEKER

Starring:
Devon Gummersall, Tina Payne, Derek Richardson, Scott Whyte, Arielle Kebbel, Eric Mabius and Michael Ironside

Writer/Director:
Dave Payne

Running Time:
90 mins

Out to buy on DVD 13/11/06

"Can you smell that?"

Driving to a party, Jack (Gummersall), Gretchen (Payne), Nelson (Richardson), Trip (Whyte) and Cookie (Kebbel) have car problems and end up stuck at a motel for the night. As they start to get to know each other, each of them starts to have visions of dead people and seeing a decaying creature that starts to hunt them down, one by one. The only one immune, is Jack who because of his blindness, has to rely on his heighten other senses to save everyone.

A supernatural creature stalking and killing young people has been the stable diet of Hollywood horror movies for decades but can 'Reeker' bring anything new to the genre?

Every year a beast, creature, madman, ghost or serial killer either opens its killing account or continues its slaughter in the horror genre. Their victim of choice is always young men and women, preferably high school or college students who are ripe for the kill. Why you never see a killer on a pensioner killing spree we will never know but it takes a lot for Hollywood to break its formula. 'Reeker' doesn't divert from this formula but does try to add some originality.

Set in a motel in the middle of a desert, our five college friends have to fight for their lives against an unstoppable foe that is only given away by the smell it creates before it appears. This is low budget horror filmmaking, which is usually where innovation and invention are abundant and 'Reeker' really gives it a good try.

As with most films of this type and budget, the cast is made up of unknown or up and coming actors and actresses. Leading the line is Devon Gummersall as Jack, the blind passenger of the group whose senses are heightened to the point that he can detect when the Reeker is coming. Scott Whyte is Trip, the man who has another reason to be going to the party and one that might just get them in ever more trouble. Derek Richardson plays the fun loving Nelson and Arielle Kebbel and Tina Payne provide the female eye candy as Cookie and Gretchen. Add to this small cameos by established B-movie actors Michael Ironside and Eric Mabius and you have a decent cast ready for the slaughter.

'Reeker' is a run of the mill monster horror movie, with a twist that is hardly original and one that fans of the genre should see coming from the off. It is the performances that make the film more watchable than it should have been but even the cast cannot disguise the fact that this is a very average fright fest.

Audio commentary
'Making Of' featurette
Cast & crew biographies
Photo gallery
UK trailer
Promotional trailer
Teaser trailer

Dead End


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2006