A deranged axe murderer kills two orderlies and escapes from the nuthouse. He cuts two holes in a pillowcase, drapes it over his head, and sets out to chop up a bunch of locals with his trusty axe. The killer eventually sets his sights on a house party where a bunch of friends are holding a makeshift high school reunion.
Night of the Axe had a retro ‘80s slasher vibe that I really dug. From the Halloween-esque backstory of the killer to his Friday the 13th Part 2-inspired look. From the POV stalking scenes to the bloody font used in the credits. It all shows writer/director Shawn Wright really has the genre down pat. This is an especially impressive feat considering this was Wright’s feature debut.
Wright embraces the cliches of the genre at every turn. The dumb characters smoke pot and have premarital sex, which leads to some gratuitous (and welcome) T & A (although I don’t think the actresses in the ‘80s had clit piercings). And at a mere hour, the film never wears out its welcome. I guess you could criticize Wright for not trying to bring anything new to the table, but that’s not such a big deal when he efficiently checks all the boxes you’d expect from an ‘80s slasher. I mean you don’t have to hit it out of the park every time at bat. Sometimes, a clean ground-rule double gets the job done, especially when you only have an hour to kill.
I can’t quite tell if the gore effects were bad on purpose, or just plain bad. (The guy who gets his arm chopped off is clearly just sticking his elbow out of his T-shirt.) Either way, it kind of works as it ultimately adds to the film’s low-fi charm. (Many kill scenes involve the axe resting gently on the actors’ skin, which is amusing.) Besides, any movie that features a News Break that interrupts a television showing of The Beast of Yucca Flats is OK by me.
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