Plague Town (2009)

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A Brilliant Conflict

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"Plague Town" has something many horror movies are lacking, especially the more recent ones. That being charismatic, interesting characters.The family members really don't get along too well, resulting in humorous dialogue which works in the context of the scenes. Even when it's clear something isn't right, the father tries to prevent his daughter from leaving, thinking it too dangerous. Of course when her boyfriend volunteers, said father encourages him.The problem? Well, after people start dying, without expendable characters the character dynamics fall apart, resulting in a horror movie considerably less entertaining when the horror begins than previously.At "Gorezone Weekend of Horrors", it did have one scene which made the audience gasp due to shock. I'm not spoiling that part.

Plague Town is set in Ireland where the Monohan family are trying to enjoy a nice holiday together, sisters Molly (Josslyn DeCrosta) & Jessica (Erica Rhodes) are at each other's throats & constantly argue while their father Jerry (David Lombard) & his wife Annette (Lindsay Goranson) try to keep the peace but when they all become stranded in the Irish countryside after missing the last bus back to civilisation tempers begin to fray. Night quickly falls & the Monohan's seek shelter at a small village but the generations of mutant children born there hide out in the surrounding woods & kill anyone who venture there while the desperate adults steal any young women of child bearing age to try & cleanse the plague that that given birth to the mutant killer children. The Monohan's quickly discover they are in great danger but already it may be too late for them...Co-written & directed by David Gregory apparently under the working title A Slaughter in Plague Town all I can say about this top little horror film is why has it taken me so long to see it? Maybe I am going to praise Plague Town too much simply because there's been so much low budget crap that I have sat through recently it's so nice to see something that I enjoyed, something that is atmospheric, something that is well made (despite it's low budget) & something with some proper gore effects rather than terrible CGI. The horror genre has produced few classic over the past decade or so in my opinion & while I will stop short of calling Plague Town a classic it's one of the best recent low budget horror films that I have seen, for me Plague Town just worked as great horror film & hit all the main notes dead on. The script is economical but quite interesting as well, the basic premise has been done to death with a city family stranded in some woods somewhere being killed off by mutant inbreds in a typical backwoods brutality slasher flick set-up but having children as the main killers (again, not overly original to be fair) adds a certain twist & while the plot is a bit thin on the ground there's enough to keep one interested in where the film is going although a rather open ended climax feels like the film just stops rather than finishes if you know what I mean. The character's are nicely fleshed out, the sarcastic sniping between the Monohan family at the start keeps things moving with a few decent one-liners & insults thrown about while they also act like proper human beings too, when faced with a killer kid Jessica doesn't drive around him she hits him dead on & runs him over! Neither Molly or Jessica take any chances & give as good as they get killing a few of the killer kids along the way. You have to suspend a certain amount of disbelief at a village in a country like Ireland could be so cut off from civilisation that packs of killer mutant kids can roam around but hey, it's only a film & a pretty good one at that.There are some great visuals here & some really good gore scenes without a single instance of CGI anywhere to be seen. The Irish woods & stone cottages in isolated fields add atmosphere while the blood runs freely. A guy has his head sliced in half with piano wire, a guy has a huge kitchen knife stuck through his hand, there are meat cleavers in heads, people are blasted in the face with shotguns, people are beaten, throat's are slit & pour with blood, roots are shoved through heads & bodies are hung up, a kid has a pitchfork stuck through his throat, people are slashed with sickles & there's plenty of blood splatter. The special effects are actually very good I might add. There's a creepy if bizarre girl in this, she is tall & elegant & wears a white dress with long flowing hair & red lips buts she has something wrong with her eyes & they have been replaced with bulging doll's eyes which just look freakish as they never & adds a really cold & creepy look to an otherwise elegant looking woman. A great image & sort of unnerving, I don't really know who she was or what her significance was but shes a creepy little thing.With a supposed budget of about $1,000,000 the makers did miracles here & Plague Town looks much bigger budget than that, although set entirely in Ireland this was actually filmed entirely in Connecticut in the US. The acting is very solid, everyone seems to be having fun & the two leading ladies who plays the sisters are extremely attractive which also helps my overall appreciation of the film.Plague Town is easily one of the best low budget horror films I have seen in years, it's well made with plenty of gore, two great looking leading ladies & a decent if not entirely original plot that gets the job done in a fairly entertaining & fun way. Some great kills & gory effects, some surprisingly creepy visuals & atmospherics & an eighty odd minute run time help make Plague Town one of the best low budget horrors out there.

this film is good for a number of reasons: very nicely shot. very nicely gory. very nicely plotted. very nicely cliché backwoods horror. that's where it ends. now weigh this up for yourself. this film IS nice. I had a soft spot for this film the moment i heard it was indie. But here we find a first time indie director who hasn't fully hit the mark. reasons why this film falls short: the characters are dumb. the characters make silly, silly decisions. the whole *oh of course, you live in this community full of rabid, murderous children. we'll give a ride to anywhere you like" thing. the absolute, silly, stupid, humorous, plot destroying dumbness of the characters. if someone sinks a section of glass into your arm you DO NOT walk further into the house. common sense. that is what horror film characters are missing these days. sure, you could argue that it's cheap horror, but cheap horror could be lifted to great horror if the characters weren't... no, that's not PC. ill' settle for truly, utterly, unquestionably dumb. the heart of horror is caring what happens to the characters and I'm' afraid this movie doesn't quite do THAT THANG but if you go into it expecting a true gore fest then you won't be disappointed. however, if you watch thisfilm to the end, it is chilling. chilling the viewer makes good horror. not fantastic or even excellent. but it does make for good horror. the ending WILL surprise you.

"Plague Town" is a another horror film about murderous children after "Eden Lake" and "The Children".There's a little bit of "Children of the Corn" and "The Wicker Man",a touch of Wolf Rilla's "Village of the Damned" and a dollop of "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" all rolled into one.A small group of bickering travelers ends up stranded in a remote rural village.This nameless Irish town has a crop of mutant children who enjoy spilling blood of unfortunate victims.There are subtle hints of paganism in the air as well.Admittedly disfigured albino children look pretty creepy and sporadic gore effects are well-done.Unfortunately the story is pretty confusing and highly derivative.The climax is also a little bit disappointing.Still I enjoyed "Plague Town" and you should too,if you are into indie horror.7 out of 10.