Review of Plague Town (2009) by Julian T — 20 Dec 2011

An American family's trip to Ireland becomes a nightmare when they get lost and discover that the surrounding countryside holds a horrific secret that forces them to fight for survival.

Starting off with a lacklustre "seen it all before" opening and characters, I didn't really hold out much hope for this low budget shocker. But it ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be. The plot intricacies are pretty much secondary and it focuses more on scares and the feeling of impending doom all aided with an off the wall soundtrack. The 'monsters' are well handled and even though a lot are in the background, the ones that are seen properly are all quite disturbing. Because of the small cast, the gore is limited, but when it does happen, it happens with a bang. The finale is probably the film's weakest part, as it only partially explains what is going on, and then leaves the viewer with an ending that, though original to the film, is not something that you haven't seen in one form or another in a lot of other horror movies. As a whole 'Plague Town' isn't a bad entry in the 'people go on holiday and nasty stuff ensues' genre of horror movies, and if you are looking for something that is a bit eerie to watch and doesn't take a lot of thinking about, then this is a movie that you should check out.