Horror Movie Review: Dismal

Dismal

Starring: Bill Oberst, Jr., Lydia Chandler, Tim Morris, and Jack Harrison

Directed by: Gary King

Written by: Bo Buckley

Production Company: Fearmakers Studios

Release Date: Yet to be Announced.

Let's face it...some college students go to great lengths to pass their classes, so when Dana is given the opportunity to go on a camping trip into the Great Dismal Swamp for a paper on the wildlife there to get extra credit, she seems to be getting off easily.

Pretty quickly, though, we start to wonder if staying home and doing body shots at a drunken coed revelrie with her overbearing boyfriend may have been a better choice for Dana. The students come across a dead aligator and begin worrying about poachers. But it's not poachers that come hunting them in the night.

Soon Dana and her fellow college students find themselves invited to dinner...as the main course for Dale and his son Idiot.

Dismal is a thrilling gorefest about swamp cannibals and their grocery shopping habits. Bill Oberst, Jr. plays the head of the cannibal family Dale. He does a decent job in the role, but the real fear comes from Jack Harrison, Idiot. The mute Idiot intimidates victims and audience alike with his blackened teeth and overshadowing size.

Tim Morris plays Curt, the teaching assistant that leads the coeds into the Great Dismal Swamp and really captures the screen by the end of the film. Give hime time. There's more to the awkward Curt than is readily apparent. Similarly, Dana's uneasy demeanor toughens by the end of the film, and well portrayed in Lydia Chandler's first film role.

Dismal has plenty of gore and action, plus a bit of gratuitous sex thrown in for good measure. Only once did I feel King went too far, and that was an unrealistic encounter with leghold traps. Otherwise, Dismal is a fun romp through a swamp with cannibals and definately worth a watch.

Fearmakers is working on the distribution of the film, so when I know it's available, I'll let you know. Until then, remember...the swamp is a dangerous place...watch where you step.