Brute 1976
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. For those who know me you know about my love for horror films so once a month, I’m going to review and discuss a scary flick. We’ll look at the classics, and some new films, and I want your suggestions on what I should review. I’ll do my best to cover all the different genres within the genre – slashers, ghosts, monsters, etc.
SPOILER ALERT! – These will be reviews so if you haven’t seen the movie you’ll want to watch it first before you read this. Let’s do this.
BRUTE 1976
Sometimes they say a trailer ends up giving away a movie or is unfortunately the best part of it. Brute 1976 falls squarely into the latter category – we see a trailer that gives off SERIOUS Texas Chainsaw, The Hills Have Eyes, and the Manson family vibes and then forgets to develop an identity of its own.
From the moment you see that John Carpenter style font in the opening credits, you know exactly what director Marcel Walz is going for. This certainly seems to be a love letter to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes, complete with the desert setting, broken-down cars, and a family of crazies.
The setup is familiar territory: Raquel and her friend June find themselves stranded in the desert when their car breaks down. They stumble upon a remote camp where June is quickly captured and Raquel attempts to flee, only to fall into the hands of a twisted, masked family. What follows is a series of increasingly disturbing encounters, including a particularly unsettling scene where one of the captors, dressed in drag, reveals he's literally wearing June's skin – breasts and all – after killing her. It's a moment that's simultaneously shocking and lame, walking the line between homage and misunderstanding and insult.
Meanwhile, a separate group – photographers Roxy, Sunshine, and forgettable colleagues – are wrapping up a desert photo shoot when they decide to explore a nearby ghost town. When they arrive, one character steps out of their van and says, "One of us is definitely getting murdered here." It's a funny self-aware moment in the film. I do love the woman who pops out of nowhere to tell the tale of the town and warns them to stay on certain sides of the road (more on her later)
The violence, when it comes, is genuinely difficult to watch. There's an extended torture sequence involving a drill and a guy’s manhood that had me looking away from the screen, and the chainsaw killings are executed with the kind of practical effects work that horror fans will appreciate. The film doesn't shy away from graphic content, which works both for and against it – the brutality serves the story, but sometimes feels like it’s just there to be there.
Where Brute 1976 stumbles most significantly is in its attempt at deeper meaning. The reveal that Sunshine is actually part of the killer family – channeling Sheri Moon Zombie's Baby from House of 1000 Corpses – leads to a bizarre sequence where the family all dressed in masks led by Mama Bird attempts to recruit final girl Roxy into their ranks. The film tries to make a commentary about race relations and technological progress, with the family suggesting that "the 80s are coming" and things will improve. I’m not sure what they were trying to do here.
Roxy, as the sole Black character and eventual final girl, returns the favor of Raquel’s attempt to kill her by stabbing her in the stomach. The film ends with Roxy reuniting with Adam, one of the photographers who managed to survive his earlier attack. Their final scene together – lying down in a room as the credits roll – provides no real resolution. We're left to assume they probably don't make it out alive, but I like the unanswered ending.
At almost 2 hours, Brute 1976 overstays its welcome by at least 15 minutes. The pacing drags in the middle act, and several scenes could have been trimmed without losing any impact. The "Mama Bird" character – a spooky matriarch figure – provides some genuine creepiness, but most of the other family members feel like pale imitations of more memorable horror villains.
Brute 1976 is a film that loves a lot of other films, never quite finding its own voice amid all the homages. While it delivers on practical effects and uncomfortable violence, it lacks in actual scares. Horror fans seeking their 1970s fix might find enough here to justify a viewing, but those hoping for something that pushes the subgenre forward will likely leave disappointed.
I’m a huge fan of all the movies this film wants to be. The problem is you need to take those and do more with them which I didn’t get.
Enjoy the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgDj9OUW83o