Hayride, the movie, combines an urban legend, creepy true-life events and a recently escaped serial killer with a haunted hayride. What could possibly go wrong?
Other than the overlong backstory and lack of anything remotely scary happening before the last 20 minutes of the movie, Hayride often gets in the way of itself.
A string of missing persons cases results in a serial killer being captured and sent to South Alabama’s Hell’s County Correctional Facility. However, an unfortunate car accident sets him free. When the killer happens to wander upon Captain Morgan’s Haunted Hayride on Halloween, the attraction’s urban legend of Pitchfork has come to life!
The conclusion includes what every teenager fears: What happens when a fake haunted house becomes real…
As a low-budget horror movie, Hayride is a success story. But it’s a shame too much time is wasted on creating a backstory, and not enough time creating a scary movie.
Pitchfork could easily become a new favorite horror icon, but being mysteriously strong and silent has got to change. Let the bad guy speak!
Hayride is 90 minutes of overacting, with pleny of shaky camera work and very few scares. Filmed in the country and the woods, the movie sets never look very expensive. One DVD Extra includes a Kickstarter video. I had no idea this movie was crowdfunded. I am now incredibly impressed.
Strength: A new horror icon is created.
Weakness: Too long of a backstory. Not enough action.
WTF Moment: What happens if a horror movie isn’t scary? Nobody watches it.
Notable Quotes:
– “Simpler is scarier.”
– “I need another Zombie.”
– “This place attracts death like flies to shit.”
– “Why does the killer always have to come out at a certain time?”
– “I don’t know anything about this guy, except he’s batshit crazy.”
Review: 2/5