This ultra-derivative British comedy horror falls depressingly short on both the scares and laughs quotient.
A group of teen delinquents and their adult carers go on a character-building outing – a set-up from Gregory Dark's See No Evil. They then fall foul of a community of insane killers determined to kill their visitors in grotesque ways – as in Two Thousand Maniacs!. And when the owner of local pub The Dirty Hole (Seamus O'Neill) decides to put on a barnyard show for the townsfolk, he blacks up – like Papa Lazarou from TV's The League of Gentlemen. Which is to say that the comic Yorkshire chainsaw massacre of Alex Chandon's Inbred comprises a series of beats already (over)familiar from other sources, leaving only its comedy to entertain.
That, for me, was entirely the problem. If you find endless amusement and hilarity in seeing dentally-challenged yokels saying 'ee-yar' (and singing their trademark 'ee-by-ee-by-gum' song), chewing on maggots, concealing ferrets down their trousers and torturing 'outsiders' with vegetables or even sewage before sending them to the pot, then Inbred is the film for you. And evidently it was a laugh a minute for many at the FrightFest audience (including the very vocal retinues of the film's cast and crew) where the film received its World Premiere.
If, however, you find such a broad brand of humour tiresome, embarrassing and altogether mirth-free, then this film has literally nothing to offer. It is, alas, stuck down the very same 'dirty hole' of the British horror market where the likes of Lesbian Vampire Killers and Evil Aliens reside, desperate to pump their captive audience full of all the shit it can take and more. Enough – and enough said.
A comedy horror about murderous yokels. Haven't we heard this one before?
Yes we have. One for the very easily amused.
About as nourishing as a mouthful of maggots. No ta.
