Five friends go on a camping trip and among sarcastic jokes and beer drinking, they come face to face with the legend, Adam Lynch. Lynch is a serial killer who disappeared years ago who killed his victims via sledge hammer, if you hadn’t figured that out by the title.

Now before I get into the skull-crushing review, this film is not for everyone. This is an acquired taste kinda film. If you love large budget horror feces like the Nightmare Remake, The Thing Remake, The Conjuring et al, you probably will want to sit this one out. However, if you’re like me and enjoy 80′s and 90′s flicks like The Borrower, Cellar Dweller, Intruder, Decampitated, etc, then this one you’ll get a kick out of.

Written and co-directed by Kristian Hanson (co-directed by John Sovie II), SLEDGE is a throwback to the time when filmmakers had a passion for horror, a passion for their films and would do anything to make the film happen.

Shot on a huge budget of $800 this film easily has the look and feel of one shot with a two thousand dollar budget. In all seriousness, the cast and crew did a fantastic job visually with the film. There are some great shot setups and camera moves that you don’t normally see within these budget restrictions. The cast is presumably made up of friends and most of the dialogue seemed improv’d, based on the realistic feel of the conversations. The entire cast is genuine and convincing. Some of the dialogue scenes went a little to long for my taste but that didn’t disrupt the flow of things.

Oh did I mention SLEDGE is a horror-comedy? The film is intercut with “couch girl”, a girl watching SLEDGE and eating popcorn on a late night cheesy horror show (Rhonda Sheer’ USA Up All Night anyone). She gets calls throughout the film as she tells her friends and ex, on the other line how bad the film is and makes comments mocking the film. This lets you know right off that the filmmakers know what kind of movie they are making and I LOVE when filmmakers do that.

But the real comic genius comes from the killer himself, played by Hanson, as the masked Adam Lynch. Lynch’s mask and costume are visually grotesque and frightening, so portraying him as a bumbling, mumbling, wise-ass-idiot, makes for a fun contrast. With lines like (after stabbing one of the girls with a large knife) “she likes big things in her” and one of my favorites, after he kills one of the guys girlfriends he spits out “I just saved you from a life time of herpes”. Yes it may not sound as funny here, you have to see it to really appreciate it.

Is there a low budget feel to this flick? Certainly, but that doesn’t take away from the fun of the film, nor the passion of the filmmakers oozing from the screen. If you’re looking for Oculus 2, this isn’t it… This film is actually entertaining and fun.

I read a quote not to long ago from a big budget producer saying he couldn’t even make a trailer for one of his high profile horror sequel’s for two million dollars. Well Mr. Producer, these guys made a feature for 800 bucks and it was more entertaining than your high profile horror remake.

Catch SLEDGE on VOD September 2nd and on DVD October 7th from Brain Damage Films.