After Dark Films
Devon Graye, Wes Chatham, C.J. Thomason, Tammin Sursok, Ben Easter, Michael Cornelison, Candice Rose, Aaron Harpold
Five friends are on an annual vacation trip when out in the middle of a huge cornfield, crows suddenly dive bomb the windshield, causing an accident, and crashing the car. When they woke up, the found one of the group was missing, and time was quickly flying by, with no sign of a rescue. Some of the gang head out for help when the whole group find someone is stalking them and killing them one by one. But the weird thing is that the killer or killers look strangely familiar.
Young director Brett Simmons’s created a short film version of this story for his school project. After graduation, he spent years trying to make this into a feature length film. A lot of persistence, but I’m glad he didn’t give up. He made a low budget horror thriller that really is quite unique. I know the stranded in a car out on a lonely highway thing has been done, but this not a chainsaw wielding madman, aliens, nor is it an inbred family of cannibals that want to feast on them. This is something much more unique and certainly very sinister. Trying to figure out a way to survive and to solve the mystery of what is going on sucks us into a very clever twisting horror story that doesn’t let up. The cast put up with horrible conditions to make this film, and they did it as a labor of love, and it shows. Most of it is all real, very little CGI or special effects done post production, this is a really scary film. Many of the After Dark films are very good, and some are a little iffy. But this one in particular is very good. Thanks to After Dark for giving a chance to young directors like this to hone their craft insuring many more great films to come, I’m sure. Known for their “8 Films to Die For” Horrorfest celebrations, they do a great thing for those of us who are horror fans, much like Sundance does for the tree hugger crowd.
You may have nightmares later, but for sure you won’t forget Husk right away. I enjoyed it so much, I listened to the commentary afterward with the director and the 3 main characters. It was a fascinating account of what it took to get this film made, and the extreme life they lived for the couple weeks it took to shoot this film. I really liked it, and I recommend it if you’re getting bored with the usual horror stuff coming out lately. This one is not overly bloody or nasty, but really is scary from start to the unbelievable ending which doesn’t give you the answer. You’ll have to decide for yourself what the ending means, as it’s not spelled out for you. A cerebral psychotic horror film from beginning to the closing credits. Great job guys!
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Ed's Review Dot Com » Movie Review – Prowl (2010) {R} said
September 16 2011 @ 11:03 am
[…] of the HorrorFest films in previous years were clunkers, but this year they have been really good. (See review of Husk a few days ago). I think this is a pretty good low budget horror film and well worth the effort to track it […]