Mask Maker
Stupid mask. We can see the zipper.
I have to get
this out of the way before I can start. Mask maker, mask maker, make
me a mask. Find me a find, catch me a catch. Ok, I feel much better
now. I haven't watched a slasher movie in a while and decided to give
a modern movie a try. It feels like most modern slashers just go
through the motions and come off like Friday The 13th and
Halloween rehashes. Will Mask Maker show me something new or just the
same old stuff?
Mask Maker
(originally and unfortunately titled Maskerade) is a 2010 horror
slasher starring Nikki Deloach (Days Of Our Lives, Ringer) as
Jennifer and Stephen Colletti (One Tree Hill, Kill Katie Malone) as
her boyfriend Evan. Evan secretly purchased a 19th century
plantation home and takes Jennifer out to see it. At first she is mad
that he made such a big decision without her, but she quickly gets
over it pretty quickly. They invite their friends for a house
warming/fixing party. The house has a history and locals refuse to
talk about it. One man, Mr. Peck (Terry Kiser, Weekend At Bernies,
Friday the 13th Part VII) is particularly afraid of the
house and refuses to answer questions. The group unknowingly
resurrect the man who used to live at the house. He suffered from
some sort of skin condition and had to stay wrapped in bandages.
Though some sort of voodoo, he has come back and is an unstoppable
killing machine. He goes on a killing spree of the friends, cutting
off their faces and wearing them as masks (hence, Mask Maker).
Jennifer discovers that Mr. Peck is connected with Mask Maker through
their sordid past. Will Jennifer be able to stop Mask Maker and get
out alive?
Fork you
If this feels
like you've seen this movie before, you're not alone. On the surface,
it's pretty much your average “College Kids Go To Murdertown”.
There are plenty of slasher movie cliches, including people going off
to have sex only to be killed, the silent, faceless inhuman killer,
and secretive townspeople. There's the usual nudity and the killer uses an axe as his weapon of choice. The movie deserves
credit with their attempt to add some voodoo/magic curse into the
mix, but it's never fully explored and just left me kind of confused.
Ultimately, none of the back story is important, which is a shame
because it could have helped set the movie apart from other slashers.
Really, its just a combination of all the good slasher tropes with a
dash of originality.
The film is well
shot and looks good compared to some of the lower-budget affairs that
are now polluting the horror genre. The directing is fine and the
acting is passable, though Terry Kiser plays a drunk the way Andy
Dick plays someone normal. There are some good acts of violence,
though the movie lacks the amount of blood and gore necessary to make
it particularly thrilling. That's not to say there isn't plenty of
stabbing and chopping, just not as much as I expected. I mean, the
killer wears people's faces. You'd think that'd be incredibly gorey
and violent, but not really. In fact, there is one scene where he
wears one of the female friend's faces complete with long hair. It is
unintentionally funny as he looks like a cross between Leatherface
and Bjork.
Weekend At Bernie's gets a gritty reboot
If you've seen a
slasher movie before, you've already seen most of Mask Maker. While
it's not particularly original, it still has some entertainment
value. There are some good kills, though the lack of extreme blood
and gore is unfortunate. The movie has it's moments and it's not a
bad watch, but it could have been better.
6/10
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