• Straight to Video
• Director: Doug Evans, Michael Hawkins-Burgos
• Written by: Doug Evans, J.J. Shebesta
• Running Time: 90 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: R - Restricted
• Cast: Angela Kane , Michael Hawkins-Burgos, Amy Geyser, Bobbie Jo Westphal, Reaca Pearl, Jeff Lee, Vanessa Yuille, Doug Evans

Shot in 2003 under the working title, The Oak Hill Picture Show, this sorta-anthology showcases three short stories framed around a simple slasher-in-the-cabin supposition. From the opening, the film feels underwhelming and the motivation of some of the central characters seems to be lacking. Also, for the most part, the film trudges along as disjointed and confusing, that is until the final minutes begin to tick down and it becomes more and more obvious what the directors were striving for...total fucking awesomeness!

When the film opens we learn that Cassandra, Bobby Jo Westphal once had terrible nightmares about her mother being murdered – dreams that, ultimately, came true. And, as it were, they never caught the killer. Shoot forward to present day and Cassandra has started to have these same nightmarish premonitions again, only this time it involves four former high school classmates. Even though she hasn’t seen them in years she decides to invite them to a small-dilapidated family owned country house in the woods under the guise of a reunion party. Cassandra neglects to tell them that she’s trying to save their lives. She senses that if she can keep them in the cabin, that whatever force -- or person -- that plans to murder them won’t be able to. Her reasoning for this is never entirely made clear.

Casper (Jeff Lee) and his uninvited girlfriend Cindy (Vanessa Yuille) are the first to arrive followed by Cassandra’s old flame, Tony (Michael Hawkins-Burgos). Running late are Alice (Angela Kane) and Kelly (Reaca Pearl). While waiting around, Cassandra’s odd erratic behaviour makes the group feel uneasy and some of them want to leave. This sparks Cassie into telling the first of her three dreams. The initial premonition involved Alice.

It seems Alice’s brother and his friends wanted to play a prank on poor innocent Alice. Calling up the myth of a local serial killer, Bobby Skates, the guys plan to terrorize Alice by having her believe that Skates is actually lurking around (and inside) the house. Needless to say, the prank goes horribly wrong and the segment closes with a shot that is absolutely jarring. Brilliant in its subtlety, this opening story really helps to set the tone for the film. Not only foreshadowing the film’s ending, it also foreshadows the film’s often confusing structure (a structure that, like this short piece, becomes clear in the end). What I really loved about this segment was its ambiguousness. It’s almost impossible to tell who is actually being pranked here and even in the end you’re asking, “what just happened here?”

When the attractive Alice finally arrives, Casper immediately takes a liking to her. This leaves his girlfriend Cindy out in the cold, so to speak. She opts to walk the fifteen miles through the woods to the next town rather than stay at the country house. She won’t get there.

The next day, Alice too goes missing only to be discovered later that afternoon – dead and decapitated. Now, confronted with the reality of Alice’s headless corpse hanging out on the scarecrow pole and a serial killer lurking around the premises, Cassandra decides to tell the group about her premonitions, in specific, the dream she had involving Casper, or somebody who looks like him.

This, the second story involving a small time thief who unwittingly unleashes some ancient light-hating monsters into the world following a botched art heist, is completely out of place in the movie. This is where it becomes obvious that more than one director might have been attached to the project (and if you read the internet, up to four people have been credited as having directed this). Considering the serious and sombre tone of the first and last segments and the wraparound, this ill-conceived comedic-in tone supernatural piece only works to distract and confuse the audience. Some might consider it a funny diversion but I was simply annoyed. Also, it in no way factors into the central story and could have been cut out entirely with absolutely no detriment to the overall film. Even the explanation for its inclusion feels more forced than believable. Jeff Lee, an impressive actor, plays the character as whimsical and wisecracking, which might have less to do with Lee and more to do with what the director wanted. In the end, the piece, although technically sound, just doesn’t work – at least not in this film. I have to say though, Jeff Lee’s failed leap into the window of his car ala Dukes of Hazzard actually made me chuckle.

The final story involves Kelly (Reaca Pearl), the guest who never arrived. Cassandra has a strange premonition about her fate. This twisted and creepy tale finds Kelly en route at night to the country house when she accidentally runs into somebody standing in the middle of the snow covered road. Horrified Kelly isn’t sure what to do, that is until a good Samaritan, Doug Evans, arrives and offers to take her for help. Following a run-in with a traffic cop, it becomes clear that there is something very wrong with Kelly’s “good Samaritan”. This segment with its moralist overtones and brutally shocking and gruesome ending, eventually factors into the central story, allowing it to come full circle, and providing closure that will surely hit you like a ton of bricks due to its sheer audaciousness.
Regarding the central story and the clichéd slasher wraparound, had the directors not so skill fully diverted the viewer away from the obviousness of the killer, the revelation might have been yawn inducing but here, when it happens, it comes as a bit of a shock. The climactic cat and mouse game between killer and victim in the farmhouse plays as a direct homage (or maybe an indirect homage, considering the year the film was made) to Alexandre Aja’s &quot;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338095/">Haute Tension</a>&quot; The segment is so absolutely brutal and violent that gore hounds will surely be in Heaven. As a killer/victim chase set piece, it unfolds perfectly.

The performances overall were quite good. Bobby Jo Westphal (1999's &quot;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210389/">Wisconsin Death Trip</a>&quot;) was quite good in a very underdrawn role that consisted of her mainly looking sullen and confused. Michael Hawkins-Burgos, Cassandra's ex-flame, who still carries a torch for her, speaks in so such a low voice that it is sometimes difficult to understand what he is saying. Doug Evans and Reaca Pearl seem to have a lot of fun with their roles even given the dark tone of their piece. The real stand-out of the film, at least for me, was Angela Kane. Wow! Now this is fairly creepy performance. Mostly one-note, with less than a page of dialogue, she's able to convey something most other "name actors" in similar roles, could not.

Had the second story been excised and the first and third stories been more fully realized and better woven into the fabric of the central story, this might have been a perfect horror film. The directors -- all half-dozen of them -- should be proud of themselves. Not quite a masterpiece but pretty damn close.