as a big slasher film fan i have to say this one, fulfill it's complement: be a horror movie. But there's just something about and it's the fact that: it's just wrong. When i was watching it at one point i though i was watching, wrong turn, then i star thinking about the Texas chainsaw massacre, then hills have eyes and finally i know what you did last summer, the movie it's basically a mix of all these other movies but unsuccessfully did what those other movies did, it's just so predictable, the scrip it's so weak and far beyond scary, instead of that it's so lame, with this thousands of clichés like "don't go in there" "what it's this place" "he's gonna kill us all" you basically know who's gonna die first and why called it "the butcher" there is no butcher in the film and there is not even a good slaughter, they should have call it "i know what the Texas hills wrong turned last summer" or something, honestly i don't know what a company spend money into making this crappy films. I give it a three because, well it's a horror movie after all, invite some friends over and watch it with pop corns in a boring Saturday afternoon. And for the record i should give this movie a zero but the lesbians really help it.
31 Reviews
Rip-Off of other movies but still good enough to entertain
jpgonc6 July 2006
The script of "The Butcher" was obviously written taking bits from Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes with a little scent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Although not so violent as the latter, this flick doesn't fail to the genre: Horror.
However I must ask the Screenwriter why he gave the name "The Butcher" to this film. A most suitable name would be "The Insane Family". I'll bet you'll say the same thing after seeing this.
The acting is not bad, the special effects are good and the story doesn't run into the clichés usually made, except for the spoken dialogs. Stupid lines and nonsenses like asking if anybody is there in an obvious empty house and calling for help in the woods knowing that the killer is doing a chase was a completely dumb thing to write making it unoriginal as seen in other films countless times.
I must point out the unreal factor not exclusive of this movie but always seen in others of the same genre. After the death of their female friend, there's some convincing acting about her death, but then is all forgotten and everyone is "cool" and behaving as if nothing horrible has happened.
Nevertheless I found "The Butcher" entertaining and far better than "Venom" and because it showed a good directing and things that were very different from those movies mentioned. We do not see the usual way of a teenager get killed like in Jason Friday 13th or Halloween and we have always the perspective where the killer is and where the victims are.
There's some slow pace at the middle of it and the gore is not intense but all the action and the subsequent end turns this into a mildly enjoyable time spent.
Definitely a good renting. (Actually, the best thing, and if you can, it's to try to see it free).
However I must ask the Screenwriter why he gave the name "The Butcher" to this film. A most suitable name would be "The Insane Family". I'll bet you'll say the same thing after seeing this.
The acting is not bad, the special effects are good and the story doesn't run into the clichés usually made, except for the spoken dialogs. Stupid lines and nonsenses like asking if anybody is there in an obvious empty house and calling for help in the woods knowing that the killer is doing a chase was a completely dumb thing to write making it unoriginal as seen in other films countless times.
I must point out the unreal factor not exclusive of this movie but always seen in others of the same genre. After the death of their female friend, there's some convincing acting about her death, but then is all forgotten and everyone is "cool" and behaving as if nothing horrible has happened.
Nevertheless I found "The Butcher" entertaining and far better than "Venom" and because it showed a good directing and things that were very different from those movies mentioned. We do not see the usual way of a teenager get killed like in Jason Friday 13th or Halloween and we have always the perspective where the killer is and where the victims are.
There's some slow pace at the middle of it and the gore is not intense but all the action and the subsequent end turns this into a mildly enjoyable time spent.
Definitely a good renting. (Actually, the best thing, and if you can, it's to try to see it free).
I would rather watch a better horror movie
ronloom17 July 2006
It wasn't too bad but i have seen so much better, you can bet i wont be watching it again, once was enough for me, needed more gore, then maybe it would have been a little better, but it really mainly needed a little bit of originality, it was too much like other slasher flicks like Texas chainsaw massacre, wrong turn, hills have eyes... the same movie over and over again gets kinda boring...but it would probably be an alright movie to watch once, but there is no way that there could ever be a reason to watch this more than that.i give this movie a 4, but it could have gotten better had it had a little bit more gore and originality...... ......... ......... ........
Awfully awful
slake0921 July 2006
This was one of those horror movies where you hope all the characters get killed quickly, because they're so annoying. They're not just annoying, they are annoying clichés of characters.
Obnoxious frat boy? Check, he's here, let's hope he gets knocked off first. Sexy lesbians? Yup, they play that for the little bit it's worth. Logical, level-headed survivor type girl? Yeah, you'll spot her in the first two minutes. Screaming teenagers? Sure enough.
This is an attempt to get some of the atmosphere of other horror movies and make it work in a mix. It doesn't work, it just comes across as a blatant ripoff without humor or originality of any kind. During the first ten minutes you'll find yourself hoping that the bad guy mops them up quick and then goes to Cancun for a vacation with some margaritas and maybe beach babes. That would have been a huge improvement over what you get, which is the worst and most predictable elements of the last ten slasher movies you saw.
Obnoxious frat boy? Check, he's here, let's hope he gets knocked off first. Sexy lesbians? Yup, they play that for the little bit it's worth. Logical, level-headed survivor type girl? Yeah, you'll spot her in the first two minutes. Screaming teenagers? Sure enough.
This is an attempt to get some of the atmosphere of other horror movies and make it work in a mix. It doesn't work, it just comes across as a blatant ripoff without humor or originality of any kind. During the first ten minutes you'll find yourself hoping that the bad guy mops them up quick and then goes to Cancun for a vacation with some margaritas and maybe beach babes. That would have been a huge improvement over what you get, which is the worst and most predictable elements of the last ten slasher movies you saw.
wtf!!!!
oRaidRo3 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Can this be possibly the worst movie ever put to celluloid? OK obvious over-the-top characters, frat boy, lesbian's, lonely guy, black token actor and female lead, was this script pulled from the are you smarter then a 5th grader.
SPOILERS: 1.first off what was with frat boy not changing the flat 2.who closes the sunroof on there friends while they are hanging halfway out.
3.exactly what patch of road did frat boy hit to cause him not to stop the vehicle safely, never mind at such a long distance, unless he was looking for the nearest branch.
4.even as obnoxious as frat boy was not even he should have been so callous as to be concern with the car then his friend being cut in half.
5.why would everyone leave the car and leave the one girl behind with half a lesbian? 6.why were these supposed young people so winded after running a few feet.
7.when the lesbian was running away why couldn't she leave limp-along in the dust? 8.why would frat boy having noticing what was producing the smoke not share this bit of info with his girlfriend at the very least? I can go on and on about the well I won't say plot holes u really need a plot to have holes to begin with, and besides Sophie's Choices (pun intended) going off on her own and not having the strength to fight off some tired old hag, oh yeah never mind having been drowned for all about 20 seconds and her so called friend not even trying to resuscitate her.
But what was the deal after having grabbed the sheriff's keys and running right passed a perfectly good escape vehicle? I don't comment much here, actually this maybe my second time, and it's often said there are much worst movies out there, but this is the worst I've ever personally experienced!
SPOILERS: 1.first off what was with frat boy not changing the flat 2.who closes the sunroof on there friends while they are hanging halfway out.
3.exactly what patch of road did frat boy hit to cause him not to stop the vehicle safely, never mind at such a long distance, unless he was looking for the nearest branch.
4.even as obnoxious as frat boy was not even he should have been so callous as to be concern with the car then his friend being cut in half.
5.why would everyone leave the car and leave the one girl behind with half a lesbian? 6.why were these supposed young people so winded after running a few feet.
7.when the lesbian was running away why couldn't she leave limp-along in the dust? 8.why would frat boy having noticing what was producing the smoke not share this bit of info with his girlfriend at the very least? I can go on and on about the well I won't say plot holes u really need a plot to have holes to begin with, and besides Sophie's Choices (pun intended) going off on her own and not having the strength to fight off some tired old hag, oh yeah never mind having been drowned for all about 20 seconds and her so called friend not even trying to resuscitate her.
But what was the deal after having grabbed the sheriff's keys and running right passed a perfectly good escape vehicle? I don't comment much here, actually this maybe my second time, and it's often said there are much worst movies out there, but this is the worst I've ever personally experienced!
Recommended
aimless-4622 June 2011
I bought this along with 400 other DVD's when one of our local video retail outlets liquidated and this film is better than the vast majority of that group.
"The Butcher" (2006) is basically a cut-rate combo of "Wrong Turn" (2003) and "Monster Man" (2003). Oddly, I liked this better than either of those films. Perhaps I tapped into the self-reflexive subtext. My reaction would be more negative if it had been a bigger production, but I tend to give a lot of points for quality production design on a limited budget and every bit of their budget makes it onto the screen.
It looks like they shot the film at Camp Roberts, home of the California Army National Guard. Which would account for the use of the deuce and a half (M35) army truck to parody the action on "Duel" and "Monster Man".
Don't seek this one out if you are expecting something original in the old familial horror genre (insert: "The American family as demented in-breds who lure victims to a home they have turned into a slaughterhouse" here). And don't expect a lot of well-staged action adventure segments or high-end special effects. And be prepared for another of those tired indestructible villain twists at the end.
Like "Wrong Turn" they make the clueless mistake of killing off their hottest actress first, although at least here they wait until she has taken off her top.
Fortunately Catherine Wreford's tight abs get plenty of screen time for the remainder of the film, so there is still something nice to look at for those who like that sort of thing. Wreford's "Rachel" is a pretty good plucky heroine (certainly better than Eliza Dushku's "Jessie") and handles the scream queen duties quite well. Annie Mackay (who looks a lot like Kristen Stewart) gives an excellent nonverbal performance.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
"The Butcher" (2006) is basically a cut-rate combo of "Wrong Turn" (2003) and "Monster Man" (2003). Oddly, I liked this better than either of those films. Perhaps I tapped into the self-reflexive subtext. My reaction would be more negative if it had been a bigger production, but I tend to give a lot of points for quality production design on a limited budget and every bit of their budget makes it onto the screen.
It looks like they shot the film at Camp Roberts, home of the California Army National Guard. Which would account for the use of the deuce and a half (M35) army truck to parody the action on "Duel" and "Monster Man".
Don't seek this one out if you are expecting something original in the old familial horror genre (insert: "The American family as demented in-breds who lure victims to a home they have turned into a slaughterhouse" here). And don't expect a lot of well-staged action adventure segments or high-end special effects. And be prepared for another of those tired indestructible villain twists at the end.
Like "Wrong Turn" they make the clueless mistake of killing off their hottest actress first, although at least here they wait until she has taken off her top.
Fortunately Catherine Wreford's tight abs get plenty of screen time for the remainder of the film, so there is still something nice to look at for those who like that sort of thing. Wreford's "Rachel" is a pretty good plucky heroine (certainly better than Eliza Dushku's "Jessie") and handles the scream queen duties quite well. Annie Mackay (who looks a lot like Kristen Stewart) gives an excellent nonverbal performance.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Why OH Why!
svensson-f14 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie with the feeling that it probably wouldn't be good. But there are movies that are bad but still kind of good if you know what I mean. As in B-movies, they are done with a sense of style and they are charming that way. This movie didn't even achieve that. So why do I feel this way?
Well, let us begin with the acting. The actors, or the people as I would like to refer them as, were horrible and I don't mean horrible as in horror, I mean that they really and utterly sucked. For example, if my friend got chopped in half I would be shocked and devastated. I got the feeling that these "actors" didn't deliver that. In fact, they weren't even close.
But, bad acting is something I can live with. We have all seen that before. But does it end there? Hell no, there is more. Let's look at the special effects. The FX in this one is way below average. In one scene we see smoke coming out of the woods in a distance. My question: Was it necessary to animate that? I can understand the need of computing animation in such films as Star Wars, X-Men, King Kong, Hulk and so on.. These guys didn't have the time or the knowledge to make a real fire to deliver real smoke. No, they animated it! And guess what.. it didn't even look good. The gore wasn't good either. In fact, there was no innovative ideas at all. The murder scenes was something that we have all seen before in other movies. This leads me to my final and absolutely most important argument.
I wonder how much of the script that was written by hand. I guess that 95% was done with the "Copy & Paste" method. Being influenced by other movies is nothing new. We have seen this phenomenon numerous times. BUT, you can show your influences with style. As a tribute to the old classics. It is cleared beyond every doubt that this movie didn't have the motif to give tribute to these movies. This is clearly a ripoff in order to make money. It's bad enough if a movie has 1 ripoff but this one has more and that makes it a whole lot worse.
Let's start with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". We can see resemblances clear as the blue sky in this one. How about The Butcher himself, this character is very much like Leatherface. In one scene he even use a chainsaw just to ensure the audience that this is a RIPOFF (as if we didn't noticed that). There are scenes that are completely and directly adapted. While I was watching this abomination, right about 20 minutes I said to my friend that this movie will probably end up with the exact ending as in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and guess what, it did and I'm not a psychic. That sure says a lot. Oh man, it doesn't end here, no no ah ah, there is more. We see huge resemblances to "The People Under The Stairs" and there is probably even more ripoffs if you just think about it.
The only thing that was good was the title. But, the bad thing is that the title doesn't go along with the story at all. The Butcher could have been a good horror movie if we replaced the director, the whole film-crew and all of the actors. Then, only then, there would be a chance of success. I'm still amazed that this movie got distribution and a release.
Don't support the people behind this movie by spending money on it. Instead I encourage you to download it so that you can enjoy deleting it.
Well, let us begin with the acting. The actors, or the people as I would like to refer them as, were horrible and I don't mean horrible as in horror, I mean that they really and utterly sucked. For example, if my friend got chopped in half I would be shocked and devastated. I got the feeling that these "actors" didn't deliver that. In fact, they weren't even close.
But, bad acting is something I can live with. We have all seen that before. But does it end there? Hell no, there is more. Let's look at the special effects. The FX in this one is way below average. In one scene we see smoke coming out of the woods in a distance. My question: Was it necessary to animate that? I can understand the need of computing animation in such films as Star Wars, X-Men, King Kong, Hulk and so on.. These guys didn't have the time or the knowledge to make a real fire to deliver real smoke. No, they animated it! And guess what.. it didn't even look good. The gore wasn't good either. In fact, there was no innovative ideas at all. The murder scenes was something that we have all seen before in other movies. This leads me to my final and absolutely most important argument.
I wonder how much of the script that was written by hand. I guess that 95% was done with the "Copy & Paste" method. Being influenced by other movies is nothing new. We have seen this phenomenon numerous times. BUT, you can show your influences with style. As a tribute to the old classics. It is cleared beyond every doubt that this movie didn't have the motif to give tribute to these movies. This is clearly a ripoff in order to make money. It's bad enough if a movie has 1 ripoff but this one has more and that makes it a whole lot worse.
Let's start with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". We can see resemblances clear as the blue sky in this one. How about The Butcher himself, this character is very much like Leatherface. In one scene he even use a chainsaw just to ensure the audience that this is a RIPOFF (as if we didn't noticed that). There are scenes that are completely and directly adapted. While I was watching this abomination, right about 20 minutes I said to my friend that this movie will probably end up with the exact ending as in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and guess what, it did and I'm not a psychic. That sure says a lot. Oh man, it doesn't end here, no no ah ah, there is more. We see huge resemblances to "The People Under The Stairs" and there is probably even more ripoffs if you just think about it.
The only thing that was good was the title. But, the bad thing is that the title doesn't go along with the story at all. The Butcher could have been a good horror movie if we replaced the director, the whole film-crew and all of the actors. Then, only then, there would be a chance of success. I'm still amazed that this movie got distribution and a release.
Don't support the people behind this movie by spending money on it. Instead I encourage you to download it so that you can enjoy deleting it.
The Hills Have People Under the Wrong Turn Massacre
FilmFatale12 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
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.
Before Watching
ateika20 August 2006
Did you saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre, See No Evil, Wrong Turn, Hills have eyes, Wolf Creek, House of 1000 Corpses, 1001 maniacs? If yes - you wont see anything NEW. Again some teenagers going into trip and of course their car is broken... YES - it happens in the woods, in isolated place, and YES - they're haunted by some ugly freak... I rated it 4, but if I would never saw those movies that i mention in the beginning, i would give 6. I think that Texas Chainsaw producers should do something with that... almost all movies i watched past 2 years are similar. Aren't laws protect the story? I got tired of this... I guess within 3 months I will see another "edited" copy of same story.
What a Rip.
movielover198917 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
There is absolutely nothing original in this movie.
First Rip: The Girl in the road who has escaped from the psycho is ripped right out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Second Rip: Use of a chain saw for graphic death was once again ripped from TCM
Third Rip: The group of kids going strait to the killers house is yet again from TCM
Fourth Rip: Their college Kids! Horror movie's off college kids left and right. come on please. How about some originality.
Fifth Rip: The set up car accident is a possible rip from the GOD AWFUL Wolf Creek.
Though I never saw wrong turn I have heard that there is a wrong turn feeling to this movie. Bottom line people this movie holds nothing original. It can be avoided but it's not a complete waste.
First Rip: The Girl in the road who has escaped from the psycho is ripped right out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Second Rip: Use of a chain saw for graphic death was once again ripped from TCM
Third Rip: The group of kids going strait to the killers house is yet again from TCM
Fourth Rip: Their college Kids! Horror movie's off college kids left and right. come on please. How about some originality.
Fifth Rip: The set up car accident is a possible rip from the GOD AWFUL Wolf Creek.
Though I never saw wrong turn I have heard that there is a wrong turn feeling to this movie. Bottom line people this movie holds nothing original. It can be avoided but it's not a complete waste.
Bad shite always happens inside the creepy farmhouse.
lastliberal6 October 2007
There is no doubt that seeing Tiffany Kristensen flash the Butcher is the highlight of this film. Everything else has been seen before in other horror movies.
Obnoxious frat boy, token African-American, lesbians, and, oh-my-gosh, a chainsaw. How original! At least it was put to good use getting rid of the most irritating characters.
Oh, that flash in the beginning, that's it for the nudity. There really isn't much gore in this film. I would have given it a PG-13, instead of an R.
Stay on the main road, people.
Obnoxious frat boy, token African-American, lesbians, and, oh-my-gosh, a chainsaw. How original! At least it was put to good use getting rid of the most irritating characters.
Oh, that flash in the beginning, that's it for the nudity. There really isn't much gore in this film. I would have given it a PG-13, instead of an R.
Stay on the main road, people.
A clichéd and stupid, though entertaining slasher
kannibalcorpsegrinder3 October 2019
Traveling together to Vegas, a group of friends celebrating their upcoming graduation get stranded in the woods after taking a detour and find themselves stalked by a family of deformed killers living in a rural house in the area, forcing them to fight off the group to get away alive.
This here was quite an impressive and enjoyable slasher. One of the biggest pluses here is the strong action in the opening section which starts this off strongly as the roadside accident and repair, chase through the woods and the eventual accident that results in their friends' death get this started on a great note. That continues along nicely as the discovery of the other girl out there and their quest to get help brings them into contact with the family is some really fun scenes here with the foot-chase through the woods being pretty thrilling, the stalking in the basement is fun with the race to escape undetected and getting found-out leading to the brutal encounter between them as the remaining friends try to save him and the creepy encounter on the second floor of the house is a lot of fun with the use of the darkened room providing a fine hiding spot to launch the surprise ambush on the victims while letting their fighting here be quite exciting. These all allow for quite the exciting pace as there are plenty of enjoyable encounters spread throughout here to give this hardly any down-time as this all leads into the better action found in the finale. That is where this one gets plenty of fun encounters in a thrilling chase through the walls inside the house while he tries to break inside to et at them, a great brawl in the living room where they go after the policeman attempting to rescue them and a rather thrilling battle with the survivors out into the woods around his house that makes for a really enjoyable finish here. There are also a few chilling and suspenseful scenes here as they explore the house by themselves that injects some great atmosphere into the film. As all these give the film a big body count which also gives this one some decent deaths and gore as well which help this nicely, there's enough provided here to hold off the film's flaws. The main issue here is the film's rather obvious low-budget nature which trips itself up at times, especially in the beginning where this one tends to let them be front and center. From the way they showcase the closed-in atmosphere, weak camera-work that looks distinctly digital and the cheap feel here that all give away the low-budget nature, and while they're all problematic the digital camerawork becomes distracting here when the blurriness is featured constantly for numerous scenes and ruining their impact. The other issue here is that there's absolutely zero impact here against the main killer who isn't really that threatening as he's barely bigger than the other guys, the scar is ridiculously cheesy-looking instead of imposing and the lack of backstory until the final act makes for a simply confusing and makes for a truly lame and rather disappointing main villain. These here do hold this one back though there are enough positives here to make it enjoyable.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.
This here was quite an impressive and enjoyable slasher. One of the biggest pluses here is the strong action in the opening section which starts this off strongly as the roadside accident and repair, chase through the woods and the eventual accident that results in their friends' death get this started on a great note. That continues along nicely as the discovery of the other girl out there and their quest to get help brings them into contact with the family is some really fun scenes here with the foot-chase through the woods being pretty thrilling, the stalking in the basement is fun with the race to escape undetected and getting found-out leading to the brutal encounter between them as the remaining friends try to save him and the creepy encounter on the second floor of the house is a lot of fun with the use of the darkened room providing a fine hiding spot to launch the surprise ambush on the victims while letting their fighting here be quite exciting. These all allow for quite the exciting pace as there are plenty of enjoyable encounters spread throughout here to give this hardly any down-time as this all leads into the better action found in the finale. That is where this one gets plenty of fun encounters in a thrilling chase through the walls inside the house while he tries to break inside to et at them, a great brawl in the living room where they go after the policeman attempting to rescue them and a rather thrilling battle with the survivors out into the woods around his house that makes for a really enjoyable finish here. There are also a few chilling and suspenseful scenes here as they explore the house by themselves that injects some great atmosphere into the film. As all these give the film a big body count which also gives this one some decent deaths and gore as well which help this nicely, there's enough provided here to hold off the film's flaws. The main issue here is the film's rather obvious low-budget nature which trips itself up at times, especially in the beginning where this one tends to let them be front and center. From the way they showcase the closed-in atmosphere, weak camera-work that looks distinctly digital and the cheap feel here that all give away the low-budget nature, and while they're all problematic the digital camerawork becomes distracting here when the blurriness is featured constantly for numerous scenes and ruining their impact. The other issue here is that there's absolutely zero impact here against the main killer who isn't really that threatening as he's barely bigger than the other guys, the scar is ridiculously cheesy-looking instead of imposing and the lack of backstory until the final act makes for a simply confusing and makes for a truly lame and rather disappointing main villain. These here do hold this one back though there are enough positives here to make it enjoyable.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.
I Have Seen This Storyline Many Times
claudio_carvalho24 June 2008
While driving to Las Vegas with his college friends Rachel (Catherine Wreford), Liz (Tiffany Kristensen), Atlanta (Ashley Rebecca Hawkins), Sophie (Myiea Coy) and Adam (Tom NageL), the selfish and wealthy Mark (Alan Ritchson) decides to take a shortcut. Mark stresses with the driver of an old tow truck, and suddenly he sees a woman crossing the road and has a serious car accident. His friend Liz dies, and Mark and Adam run after the girl, who is wounded. The group decides to seek help while Atlanta stays with the severed body of Liz in the car. They find an old house in the woods where a family of psychopaths lives and they are chased by the insane family.
One that reads my summary above would immediately recalls "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Hills Have Eyes", "Wrong Turn", "Timber Falls", "House of Wax", "Wolf Creek", "House of 1000 Corpses" and probably another dozen rip-offs of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and remakes. Therefore, there is no originality in the predictable plot. However, the unknown cast has many young actors and actresses and their performances are not bad. I agree that this routine of repeating and repeating the same storyline is annoying, but "The Butcher" has qualities and is not as bad as mentioned in many reviews. As an incentive to the young cast, my vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "O Açougueiro" ("The Butcher")
One that reads my summary above would immediately recalls "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Hills Have Eyes", "Wrong Turn", "Timber Falls", "House of Wax", "Wolf Creek", "House of 1000 Corpses" and probably another dozen rip-offs of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and remakes. Therefore, there is no originality in the predictable plot. However, the unknown cast has many young actors and actresses and their performances are not bad. I agree that this routine of repeating and repeating the same storyline is annoying, but "The Butcher" has qualities and is not as bad as mentioned in many reviews. As an incentive to the young cast, my vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "O Açougueiro" ("The Butcher")
"Oh, Mama, can this really be the end?"
jthelin14 November 2007
I was glad I was exercising at home while this mind-numbing piece of drek droned on and on and on
. Otherwise, I would have completely wasted an hour and a half of my life 90 minutes incidentally that felt like 90 days.
I was reminded of some really bad low-budget sci-fi/horror flicks from the '50s, like The Beast With 50 Million Eyes. The Butcher contained some of the same, uh, qualities: no plot, bad writing, mostly annoying characters consistently blurting out stupid, senseless remarks. The director showed no ability for pacing (the film just sat there, congealing) or suspense or character development, i.e., there was NO pacing NO suspense NO interesting characters. As for the latter, it was hard to tell whether the actors & actresses could be any good, seeing how they were given so little of substance with which to work. As it stands on film, though, they either showed the emotions of a cardboard cut out or thrashed about in over-the-top fashion. And, yes, like some other reviewers, I too could not wait for several of the characters to meet their demise because they were SO annoying.
I cannot think of anything redeeming about this dawg. It could never be a guilty pleasure for me, like Wrong Turn, for example. The filmmakers had two left feet and empty heads and they forced their characters to wander around in the same way, dazed and dumb, with nothing to say. I felt tortured. Don't let it happen to you. You have been forewarned.
I was reminded of some really bad low-budget sci-fi/horror flicks from the '50s, like The Beast With 50 Million Eyes. The Butcher contained some of the same, uh, qualities: no plot, bad writing, mostly annoying characters consistently blurting out stupid, senseless remarks. The director showed no ability for pacing (the film just sat there, congealing) or suspense or character development, i.e., there was NO pacing NO suspense NO interesting characters. As for the latter, it was hard to tell whether the actors & actresses could be any good, seeing how they were given so little of substance with which to work. As it stands on film, though, they either showed the emotions of a cardboard cut out or thrashed about in over-the-top fashion. And, yes, like some other reviewers, I too could not wait for several of the characters to meet their demise because they were SO annoying.
I cannot think of anything redeeming about this dawg. It could never be a guilty pleasure for me, like Wrong Turn, for example. The filmmakers had two left feet and empty heads and they forced their characters to wander around in the same way, dazed and dumb, with nothing to say. I felt tortured. Don't let it happen to you. You have been forewarned.
Retread of other horror movies
sap-410 August 2006
If you saw the new version of Texas Chainsaw Masacre, Wrong Turn, People Under the Stairs, and a few others, you've already seen this movie. It steals scenes and almost line by line from these others. It is so predictable, I knew what characters were going to do or say down to their exact words a minute before they did just that. There's a chainsaw, there's even an engagement ring, bottled body parts, barbed-wire , and even the ending is a copied. Also, the acting, especially from the mother, is terrible. Absolutely nothing is particularly original. Do not waste your time. It stinks. And as a horror movie, there's not even too much horror. Also it is mis-titled. Was obviously supposed to be called "The Farmer" or something like that judging from what probably was intended as a signature line "It's Harvest Time!". There's no mention of anything connected to a butcher. P.S. Venom is a MUCH better movie.
Yet Another Plain Old Nuthin' Special Body Count Flick
MetalGeek4 November 2010
Thankfully, I only paid $3.99 for "The Butcher" from a drug store bargain DVD bin, therefore I wasn't expecting much from it. Good thing, too, because "The Butcher" was utterly derivative, totally nonsensical, and ultimately pretty damned silly all the way through. Take a bit of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," some of "Wrong Turn," a piece of "People Under the Stairs" and boom, you've got your "Butcher." Even casual horror film viewers will say to themselves "Where have I seen this before?" at least once during its run time.
"The Butcher" doesn't waste much time with unimportant frills like back story or character development; it just starts with the nasty stuff virtually as soon as the opening credits are finished rolling. A group of annoying twenty-somethings (an obnoxious jock in a "popped collar" shirt, two lesbians, an African-American girl who's in a wedding dress for some nebulous reason, a "nice" guy, and a "tough" girl) are all on their way to Las Vegas for a weekend of partying. They take a supposed "short cut" (never a good idea) down a desolate country road where they're menaced by a scarred guy in a beat up truck. Popped Collar Guy takes offense at this and pursues the truck, which leads to him crashing into a tree and wrecking the car. This also causes one of the lesbians, who'd been hanging out of the sun roof, to get cut in half on a low hanging tree limb. (Ouch!) So our group is now down to five, and after a bit of arguing they set off through the countryside in search of help. Coming to a run down farm house in the middle of nowhere, these morons soon find out that the house is occupied by the "Butcher" of the title and his family of demented rednecks. Poorly staged mayhem ensues. The idiots spend half of the movie barricaded inside the killer's house (!!!), where they wander around looking at filthy rooms full of doll heads, dishes of human bones and other flotsam and saying "What is that?" "I don't know" rather than, say, trying to find the back door, or at least some weaponry to fight back against the killer. About halfway through we meet the Butcher's wife, who hides in the house's basement and who apparently went nuts due to her inability to have a child. After several more (ineffective) death scenes, the "nice guy" manages to escape the house (leaving his friends behind??? Yeah, I know...logic has no place here) and brings a sheriff to the property, but the psycho couple make short work of him and eventually we're down to "nice guy" and "tough chick" for the final showdown. Even if you've never seen the movie, you will probably be able to tell which one of them is going to get out alive.
"The Butcher" may not be the worst movie I've ever seen, but Lord, it isn't good. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, the killers are Xeroxed from much better films, and the whole thing just comes off pointless and repetitive. Gorehounds who aren't terribly picky may want to check it out because "The Butcher" has more than its fair share of the red stuff but most viewers will just want it to end as quickly as possible.
"The Butcher" doesn't waste much time with unimportant frills like back story or character development; it just starts with the nasty stuff virtually as soon as the opening credits are finished rolling. A group of annoying twenty-somethings (an obnoxious jock in a "popped collar" shirt, two lesbians, an African-American girl who's in a wedding dress for some nebulous reason, a "nice" guy, and a "tough" girl) are all on their way to Las Vegas for a weekend of partying. They take a supposed "short cut" (never a good idea) down a desolate country road where they're menaced by a scarred guy in a beat up truck. Popped Collar Guy takes offense at this and pursues the truck, which leads to him crashing into a tree and wrecking the car. This also causes one of the lesbians, who'd been hanging out of the sun roof, to get cut in half on a low hanging tree limb. (Ouch!) So our group is now down to five, and after a bit of arguing they set off through the countryside in search of help. Coming to a run down farm house in the middle of nowhere, these morons soon find out that the house is occupied by the "Butcher" of the title and his family of demented rednecks. Poorly staged mayhem ensues. The idiots spend half of the movie barricaded inside the killer's house (!!!), where they wander around looking at filthy rooms full of doll heads, dishes of human bones and other flotsam and saying "What is that?" "I don't know" rather than, say, trying to find the back door, or at least some weaponry to fight back against the killer. About halfway through we meet the Butcher's wife, who hides in the house's basement and who apparently went nuts due to her inability to have a child. After several more (ineffective) death scenes, the "nice guy" manages to escape the house (leaving his friends behind??? Yeah, I know...logic has no place here) and brings a sheriff to the property, but the psycho couple make short work of him and eventually we're down to "nice guy" and "tough chick" for the final showdown. Even if you've never seen the movie, you will probably be able to tell which one of them is going to get out alive.
"The Butcher" may not be the worst movie I've ever seen, but Lord, it isn't good. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, the killers are Xeroxed from much better films, and the whole thing just comes off pointless and repetitive. Gorehounds who aren't terribly picky may want to check it out because "The Butcher" has more than its fair share of the red stuff but most viewers will just want it to end as quickly as possible.
Dreadful "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" ripoff
preppy-326 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
A bunch of REAL annoying college students are driving to Las Vegas. Their car breaks down on a deserted road and they search for help. They find a big old ranch house, in the middle of nowhere, with a VERY strange family who love killing...
Sound familiar? Absolutely pointless rehash of "Texas..." minus the story, characterization and scares. This also has the gratuitous female nudity and the now requisite lesbian couple (notice we never see a gay male couple?). This is incredibly cheap with glaring continuity errors left and right--notice how one girl runs past the exact same tree twice in a row!!! The story is entirely predictable with some extremely stupid "twists" in it. Also these kids are killed off...for no reason whatsoever! Granted they're ALL annoying but I would at least like a reason!
The acting, at first, was so bad I almost switched this off. Worst of all is Alan Ritchson--he plays such a totally obnoxious character (and badly) that I wondered why all these people hung out with him. As the movie progressed, Tom Nagel (as Adam) and Catherine Wreford (as Rachel) actually improved and ended up giving two not bad performances. Everybody else was hopeless.
Stupid, sick, sadistic and utterly worthless horror movie. The only truly scary thing about this is that it was made. Skip it.
Sound familiar? Absolutely pointless rehash of "Texas..." minus the story, characterization and scares. This also has the gratuitous female nudity and the now requisite lesbian couple (notice we never see a gay male couple?). This is incredibly cheap with glaring continuity errors left and right--notice how one girl runs past the exact same tree twice in a row!!! The story is entirely predictable with some extremely stupid "twists" in it. Also these kids are killed off...for no reason whatsoever! Granted they're ALL annoying but I would at least like a reason!
The acting, at first, was so bad I almost switched this off. Worst of all is Alan Ritchson--he plays such a totally obnoxious character (and badly) that I wondered why all these people hung out with him. As the movie progressed, Tom Nagel (as Adam) and Catherine Wreford (as Rachel) actually improved and ended up giving two not bad performances. Everybody else was hopeless.
Stupid, sick, sadistic and utterly worthless horror movie. The only truly scary thing about this is that it was made. Skip it.
Are u freakin' kiddin me'??
scriptmeister-228 April 2007
Are you freakin' kiddin' me? There's a lot of bad horror films out there and this is one of 'em. Sometimes the filmmakers choose to make 'em bad by purpose due to low budgets etc.. That way at least you can be entertained. "The butcher", I'm not sure about. Did they make the film this bad by purpose or do all involved crew members really suck. The acting is below average. Not the worst performances I've seen but they're not good. The director seems to have no idea on how to build suspense or how to direct for that matter. The photography is okay. Not the best but okay. The budget of 750 000 $ is spent badly, I think. With a little imagination they could have spent it much better. But all this is not the worst thing about this film. The script, oh, the script. How in Gods name a production company ever picked this script up, I'll never know. The script is just terrible, awful.. well... not good. I'll rate this film 3 out of 10. It's possible to sit through it. Just don't get your hopes up for any scares. Prepare yourselves for laughs instead.
Not much butchering
wrlang15 July 2006
This movie is a typical teens get into trouble on the road story. While going off to Vegas to celebrate graduation, 6 teens in an Escalade take a short cut and exchange road rage with the disfigured father of a reclusive family named Mayhew living way off the beaten path. In typical teen fashion they make some really bad decisions and wind up unknowingly invading the home of the Mayhew's where they run from the clan and try and find a way back to reality. During their ordeal 'some' of them are killed in semi-goriness. With a title like The Butcher, it could have been a lot worse. The editing, continuity, and other technical aspects were pretty good. The end holds a few twists that were not totally unexpected.
Terribly Dumb And Just Couldn't Take It....
wandernn1-81-6832748 January 2021
This one started out fun but turned stupid really fast. As it seemed like the drove way out of the way to decapitate one of the hotties in the car. And then the argument about who did nothing wrong. And that's just the start of the fiasco this turns into.... The Butcher, still has yet to appear and already there's plenty of stupid.
And I just couldn't take anymore of the stupid after the 'rich guy' was pinned with a shovel and dissected with a chainsaw. That was enough...off it went...1/10
And I just couldn't take anymore of the stupid after the 'rich guy' was pinned with a shovel and dissected with a chainsaw. That was enough...off it went...1/10
A very lousy and hackneyed backwoods horror stinker
Woodyanders21 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Stop me if you've already heard this one before: Six extremely annoying and unappealing college kids -- sassy blonde Rachel (Catherine Wreford), obnoxious, insensitive, and spineless musclehead Mark (a supremely terrible and insufferable performance by Alan Ritchson), sexy libidinous lesbians Atlanta (cute blonde Ashley Hawkins) and Liz (foxy brunette Tiffany Kristensen, who at least bares her breasts prior to getting bumped off first), bumbling nice guy Adam (decently played by Tom Nagel), and token black Sophie (Myiea Coy) -- on a cross country road trip run afoul of a vicious family of deadly and demented hicks after they get a flat tire in the middle of some nowheresville sticks. Gee, isn't that a remarkably fresh and inspired premise for a fright flick? Of course not, man! Director Edward Gorsuch, working from a pitifully trite and by-the-numbers cookie cutter script by Michael Hurst, manages to maintain a fairly brisk pace and delivers a handy helping of nasty gore, but crucially fails to create any suspense or spooky atmosphere. Worse yet, the main protagonists are so uniformly cardboard, irritating, and underdeveloped that one simply doesn't care whether they live or die. April Lang as deranged hag Ms. Mayhew, Bill Jacobson as hulking disfigured brute Franklyn Mayhew, and Annie MacKay as tongueless daughter Angel are reasonably creepy, but they still aren't anywhere near as scary and disturbing as the cannibal clan in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (a horror classic that this crud shamelessly copies to the grating ninth degree). Dennis Smith's generic shivery'n'shuddery score, the headache-inducing blaring alternative soundtrack, the variable acting from an attractive, but charmless and unlikable cast, and one of those always unwelcome groan-worthy "it ain't over yet!" (non)endings all add further abject insult to already appalling injury. Hank Baumert, Jr.'s slick cinematography makes this schlock look much better than it deserves. A real dud.
Just 'cause it says Lionsgate, don't assume that means it's good
KilRydLoad11 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Boy, oh, boy, did I learn that recently with this piece of crap! I mean, what the heck, they're being chased by a deranged killer, and one of the chicks starts singing a lullaby in the house?!?!?!!? I mean, you would think the baby crib dangler made of dead black crows would freak her out, but, no...she starts singing a lullaby she remembers from her childhood...all the while looking at a baby crib dangler made of dead black crows while being chased by a chainsaw killer...exactly how I'd react in that same situation! Or anybody, for that matter! I did like the part, though, when that dyke's body splits in half just because she smashes into a tree branch, that part was both stupid and hilarious at the same time! Yeah, smash into a tree branch while showing your tits outside a vehicle's moon roof, that will cause your body to split in half!! I about fell over on my rear end laughing when that part came up! And then, after she splits in half and all the characters are on the run from the big, bad killer, the guy in the Stifler role ends up in the killer's barn looking in his fridge for a tall, cool one! Yeah, that's exactly what I would do if a chainsaw killer were chasing me, go look in his barn fridge for a beer! And the whole while he's doing it, it's like he's all calm, cool, and collected!! I don't know if IMDb.com would consider what I've written here a spoiler, that's why I checked "Contains Spoiler," so as not to be blacklisted, just to be on the safe side. Another idiotic part of the movie (possible spoiler) is when the cop gets killed, the dude and the blonde get the keys to his police vehicle off his key chain attached to his belt loop...and...they...RUN. Like...the police jeep...is right there as they leave the house trying to escape from the chainsaw killer...jeep is not damaged in any way, shape, or form...and still...they run. On foot. No explanation even given as to why. Oh, man, I should have known...this is a new release to Family Video, and the fact that it had already been moved to the 2 for $1 rack had red flags going off in my head, but I thought, "Naw, it's Lionsgate, surely it rocks!" Wrong! I saw another Lionsgate film recently that sucked, too, but IMDb.com guidelines say to stick to the movie you're reviewing and not comment on other films. I'll be sure to come check out IMDb.com every time from now on if I want to read reviews on a movie, Lionsgate or not. Stay away from this stinker! Two thumbs way down!
A mix of Horror Hamburger.
computerbuilder12 July 2006
The Butcher isn't a bad horror movie but it isn't a great one either. The film borrows heavily from other horror flicks like, The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - so don't expect a new story here.
The acting was pretty good considering the weak script. Actor Bill Jacobsen actually did do a pretty good job as Franklin Mayhew. The directing was pretty tight but the plot sagged in the middle. The sets looked creepy. Like most B movies the characters do some pretty silly things so expect lots of clichés.
Overall, I'd recommend it to rent for a cheap,mindless,horror flick, but don't buy.
The acting was pretty good considering the weak script. Actor Bill Jacobsen actually did do a pretty good job as Franklin Mayhew. The directing was pretty tight but the plot sagged in the middle. The sets looked creepy. Like most B movies the characters do some pretty silly things so expect lots of clichés.
Overall, I'd recommend it to rent for a cheap,mindless,horror flick, but don't buy.
All in all the movie is entertaining. Some slow parts, but keeps you interested till the end.
tsu34954429 August 2006
I think the title "The Butcher" is appropriate for this movie. After the first two girls get killed off the rest of the group do not show enough emotion relating to their deaths.
I thought the acting was better than average for a low budget film.
The beautiful blonde had quite an impressive scene when she was crying for her girlfriend. Actually, she is the only one that showed any grief over her loss. The scenery for the most part was appropriate for a horror film.
The night scenes were especially more scary.
Especially with the girl running thru the woods and then being hung. that was realistic.
The ending had quite a twist though I thought the middle of the movie had some slow scenes when wondering through the barn house.
I thought the acting was better than average for a low budget film.
The beautiful blonde had quite an impressive scene when she was crying for her girlfriend. Actually, she is the only one that showed any grief over her loss. The scenery for the most part was appropriate for a horror film.
The night scenes were especially more scary.
Especially with the girl running thru the woods and then being hung. that was realistic.
The ending had quite a twist though I thought the middle of the movie had some slow scenes when wondering through the barn house.
There's worse out there
Michael_Elliott26 February 2008
Butcher, The (2006)
** (out of 4)
DTV horror film is in the same vein as countless others. Six college students are on their way to Las Vegas when they decide to turn down an old country road to save some time. They eventually get stranded and then are attacked and slashed by a deformed redneck. We've seen this type of film countless times over the past three decades and I'm sure we'll be seeing them in the next three decades. The film is actually better than a lot of the DTV horror films of today but there are still a lot of problems here. The cast doesn't give very good performances but their characters are at least entertaining. What really kills the film is how stupid the characters are as they are constantly doing the wrong things scene after scene. While stupid characters are a staple of horror films, the ones here are just so stupid that they become rather annoying. There's a small amount of nudity and good amount of gore to keep you awake but that's about it.
** (out of 4)
DTV horror film is in the same vein as countless others. Six college students are on their way to Las Vegas when they decide to turn down an old country road to save some time. They eventually get stranded and then are attacked and slashed by a deformed redneck. We've seen this type of film countless times over the past three decades and I'm sure we'll be seeing them in the next three decades. The film is actually better than a lot of the DTV horror films of today but there are still a lot of problems here. The cast doesn't give very good performances but their characters are at least entertaining. What really kills the film is how stupid the characters are as they are constantly doing the wrong things scene after scene. While stupid characters are a staple of horror films, the ones here are just so stupid that they become rather annoying. There's a small amount of nudity and good amount of gore to keep you awake but that's about it.
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