Review of Bloody Homecoming (2013) by Kyle L — 16 Jul 2018

Bloody Homecoming is a flawed but great Horror film that pays tribute to the early 1980's teen Horror films which were so popular back then and manages to be a good movie in its own right. The story concerns a group of teenagers who after so many years have been living their lives in High School before they go their separate ways once they graduate.

In order to make their last moment their best, they decided to go join the annual Homecoming party until someone from their past has come to get revenge on them turning their night of fun into a blood bath.

When I watched this the first time around, I was hoping to see whether this Horror film pays homage to the classic Prom Night with Jamie Lee Curtis or it borrows elements from the Teen Slasher genre, in my view it is actually both.

Bloody Homecoming does not follow the Torture-Gore genre that started out with either Hostel or Saw, the movie itself is different to that sub-genre. I think back when Saw and Hostel were making money, people have forgotten what the Horror genre was when those type of Horror films took over the world as in the early 2000's things were so different, But with the start of this film, Bloody Homecoming manages to make us remember how Horror movies were before the screaming and endless torture gore effects popularized the genre all over the world which is combining good scares and a coherent story to create an 80's vibe movie that made sense for so many years.

I have to admit that this movie is full of flaws and could have been the perfect 80's trope Horror film of the century but nevertheless it is able to work well enough for the big time fans of the genre.

From start to finish, Bloody Homecoming is a unique movie that has some of the goriest kills that reminds us of each gruesome body count from the Friday The 13th or later on Halloween films which were so creative yet hard to stomach through (You got lots of nasty stabbings with a sharpened stake that's either in the mouth, chest or eye and also the most disgusting death scene in the film is the bleacher kill where one character is crushed inside the bleachers and left to bleed plus the most creative kill is the throat slash using the Homecoming crown that has some of the best gore effects in Horror history).

The pacing is fine and the twist in the end was a huge surprise despite how tedious it is. When I said that this film has flaws, I do admit that. Despite how interesting the story and execution is, my main issue with this film is that due to its low budget and Direct to DVD release, the performances are nowhere as good as I expected it to be especially when the characters feel out of place throughout the entire movie and if it weren't for this mistake, Bloody Homecoming could have been so much better and be worth your time because I've seen better Straight to DVD Horror films that are shot on a shoestring budget but managed to handle the performances properly, this is not the case with Bloody Homecoming.

It is still a good movie though I have to admit. Director Brian C. Weed does a unique job in crafting the build-up of the film and he seems to understand the Horror genre but could not perfect the execution when shot on a small budget.

I just hope if he does another Horror film, he can rectify these mistakes and take note when making Horror movies on a low budget. Overall Bloody Homecoming is a flawed but entertaining Horror film that could have been perfect, nevertheless still acts as a tribute to the popular 1980's Horror movies thanks to its vibe and style.

This film gets an 8/10.