How Does One Even See Out Of A Pig's Head?

I had some time to get some writing done today so I thought I would get a review in. I'm off work for a week and a half, more or less, so hopefully I will get more than just this one review in. I was going to watch a different movie, but I discovered it was very cracked, like half the DVD, so I will have to get it replaced by Netflix. They are probably wondering why it took me so long to report it though. I never check the DVDs until I go to watch them, so it could take a while before I check it. Anyway, I moved on to the next DVD in my stack, which was Madison County (2011).

The film opens with a woman in just her bra and panties waking up in the back of a truck. As she starts to climb out, a guy who was driving follows her with a shovel and brains her with it. From there we meet James (Colley Bailey) who wants to do an interview with an author of a book called "Devil In The Woods". James decides to invite his friends along as well, Jenna (Natalie Scheetz), Will (Matt Mercer) and Brooke (Joanna Sotomura), in order to make it an outing. When they go to pick up Brooke, her brother Kyle (Ace Marrero) invites himself along because he tends to be overprotective of his little sister, who you know, isn't so little anymore. They make their way to Madison County where they hope to find David Randall (Dayton Knoll), the author of the book about a serial killer in the small town who was never caught. Once there though they are told that David hasn't lived in the town since the book came out, and the killer and events described never happened. Of course we know that isn't true, otherwise there wouldn't be a movie!

Madison County is a movie I first heard about while exploring movie trailers on Youtube. It looked interesting enough so I added it to my movie queue when I learned that Netflix was carrying it. Directed and written by Eric England, it has a reported budget of around $70,000, which makes it perfect for this blog. First off, I will say that Madison County managed to rise above the low-budget look that often times shows up in other films like this. It also lets us get to know the different characters some before the killing starts. Not every character gets the same amount of development, but at least they aren't just thrown in to get killed later. Also, all the characters are on equal ground it seems. You don't have to jock, bad girl/good girl types this time around. This was the good news.

The bad news is that even with a short run time, it isn't until the last half hour starts before any kills happen. Maybe that is a good thing since you don't have to wait as long, but it still seems like a long time. The plot didn't always make sense either. David has a hidden agenda, which has to do with the woman at the start. There is a big secret going on in the town, and the ending is supposed to be a big surprise, at least I assumed it was supposed to be, but it wasn't a surprise at all. The big secret isn't so secret. The ending could have used some more work as well. It just seems to end all of a sudden with no real ending to it, besides some getting away.

The effects, while not very gory, are pretty good. There was a couple of scenes that stood out for the blood if nothing else. The kills are pretty standard when it comes to a slasher film. One kill is better which involves a baseball bat. That one is perhaps the most graphic as well. The acting was also pretty good. Some was better than others of course. I didn't have any problems out of the main group, even though none of them stood out to me much. Nick Principe, who played the bad guy in the Laid To Rest films, also plays the bad guy here. He does a really good job with it I thought.

One thing I found funny while reading what other people thought of Madison County was that the killer walked more than he ran. This is pretty much a staple to horror movies so I don't know why it came as a surprise to anyone. Plus, as you learn more about the town, you will discover that the killer doesn't need to get into a big rush. If you are looking for a movie to give you a slasher fix, Madison County should be able to do that for you. While it isn't one of the greats, it isn't all that bad either. When I got the DVD that was the only way to watch it. Since I've had the DVD though, it is now up on their instant watch. If you have Netflix, give it a shot sometime.
3 out of 5 Don't think I want to get hit in the head with a shovel