Kids Go to the Woods...Kids Get Dead (2009)

Review:
When I saw the trailer for "Kids go to the Woods...Kids get Dead" I knew it would be right up my alley. Much like Writer/Director Michael Hall I grew up on "USA up all night" watching such masterpieces as Psycho Cop Returns, The Toxic Avenger and numerous 80's sex comedies. So when I heard Kids get Dead was a love letter to the good old days of USA up all night I had to see it. And thanks to Michael Hall I've gotten that chance.

Kids go to the Woods begins with some home movie footage that's replaced with a static filled tv commercial before cutting to the horror hostess of the film "Candy Adams" It's just like watching one of your old VHS tapes. The home movie stuff you accidently taped over popping up, the commericials you tried your best editing out and the entertaining horror host. The ditzy hostess brought a huge smile to my face and reminded me of the days when USA actually showed something worthwhile. After a vignette with Candy Adams (she appears throughout the movie) the movie begins and what proceeds is sex, death, lesbians and a badass killer. Simply put I had a fucking blast!

Kids go to the Woods...Kids get Dead would fit right in with the likes of Friday the 13th and My Bloody Valentine. We have the masked killer, the bloody kills, the horny teenagers, the virgin final girl and the crazy old man who warns our main characters of the dangers ahead. If you're a fan of 80's slasher films then you don't want to miss out on this nostalgic piece of horror entertainment.

For the first hour of the film we spend a lot of time with our main characters before the masked killer does away with them. Don't worry horror fiends there are plenty of sequences in the middle of the killer murdering disposable side characters. I actually appreciate the amount of time we spend with the main characters as we get to care for some of them before they die. The acting is serviceable with some of the actors giving better performances then others ones. The acting is no better and no worse than most early slasher movies.

Being a low budget affair I was surprised how convincing the FX work was. There were problems here and there with the FX (an obvious plastic Ax for example) but most of the time they delivered the bloody goods. A sequence where a character has his head twisted around his body was so good I had to rewind it and watch it again. Kudos to Julie Langer for the good work.

The movie also looked unbelievably great for being low budget. Props to cinematographer Robert J. Huntley.

Tag to that energetic direction by Michael Hall, an old school music score and efficient editing makes Kids go to the Woods...Kids get Dead well worth watching.

So what are you doing? Click the link below and buy a copy. Fans of 80's slasher films and USA up all night won't regret it.

Recommended.

7/10

http://darkstarentertainment.net/kgd/kgdhome1.html