As you can probably guess from the review title, "The Butcher" is a mishmash of at least a dozen other better (or at least more entertaining) movies. Six young people are driving to Las Vegas when one decides to take a shortcut. They suffer a car accident when a strange girl runs in front of their SUV, killing one of their own (in pretty much the best kill of the movie). Pursuing the stranger leads to an encounter with the titular Butcher.
There's really not one likable character in our main group, but you don't really root for the Butcher either - not one character has a defining moment to either put you off or win you over. The most horrifying part comes at the very end, where it seems like we're going to have to sit through the whole thing again before the credits mercifully roll. The gore is tame, the plot is tedious, and the whole thing is pretty soul-less. A sense of fun or love for the genre can go a long way, but we get none of that here.
PS: I decided to do a review of this one while it was still relatively fresh in my mind because I'm 90% sure I've sat thru it at least once before but it's so unmemorable and derivative of so many recent "let's make a real old fashioned 80s slasher" movies that have come out in the past few years that I'm not totally sure. At least this way, there's proof of at least one viewing.
There's really not one likable character in our main group, but you don't really root for the Butcher either - not one character has a defining moment to either put you off or win you over. The most horrifying part comes at the very end, where it seems like we're going to have to sit through the whole thing again before the credits mercifully roll. The gore is tame, the plot is tedious, and the whole thing is pretty soul-less. A sense of fun or love for the genre can go a long way, but we get none of that here.
PS: I decided to do a review of this one while it was still relatively fresh in my mind because I'm 90% sure I've sat thru it at least once before but it's so unmemorable and derivative of so many recent "let's make a real old fashioned 80s slasher" movies that have come out in the past few years that I'm not totally sure. At least this way, there's proof of at least one viewing.