Following on from what we can probably call their breakthrough movie, The Hamiltons, The Butcher Brothers (Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores) allow themselves to have some fun with The Thompsons. This movie CAN be watched as a standalone effort, just, but I highly recommend to most people that you watch The Hamiltons before watching this one.
The action this time around has been transported to the UK, where young Francis Hamilton (Cory Knauf) is seeking someone that his family thinks will help them out of their current situation. What is their current situation? Well, that is revealed in flashback while Francis makes a number of interesting discoveries on his travels.
There are many ways in which The Thompsons shows a definite progression for all of the talented folk involved. The acting, the special effects, the ideas being thrown around – most of these things are improved from the rough ‘n’ ready form they took in The Hamiltons but there are also a number of negative aspects that drag things back down again. Most irritating was the use of CGI and/or digital composite effects. It should be a minor niggle but when used in an unnecessary manner, as it is here, it just stands out as a glaring error of judgment. The same goes for the slapdash way in which those interesting ideas are woven into the plot without any plausible reason for being there. The second half of the movie, in particular, either allows viewers to realise how silly the whole thing is or just abandons some of the plot points flagged up earlier in the film.
Cory Knauf, Mackenzie Firgens, Samuel Child and Joseph McKelheer all easily slap back into the roles that they previously played over five years ago while the lovely Elizabeth Henstridge stands out from the new faces. Daniel O’Meara, Sean Browne and Tom Holloway aren’t great and Selina Giles isn’t given all that much to do, which is a shame.
The movie still has enough there to entertain and appeal to horror fans, especially to those who enjoyed The Hamiltons. It is, as mentioned, more polished and has opened up the world that the characters inhabit. It’s just a shame that the script couldn’t have been given more work and more effort wasn’t put into ensuring that everything could be done with practical effects.
The Thompsons move in to an area near you on the 15th October. The disc contains 6 featurettes – the shortest one being about the main location, Ringlestone Inn, and clocking in at a couple of minutes while the other 5 looking at the development and making of the movie range between the 12 to 20 minute mark. Not bad for fans and these pieces actually contain a lot of decent info and behind the scenes footage.
DIRECTOR: THE BUTCHER BROTHERS (AKA MITCHELL ALTIERI, PHIL FLORES)
WRITER: THE BUTCHER BROTHERS, CORY KNAUF
STARS: CORY KNAUF, ELIZABETH HENSTRIDGE, MACKENZIE FIRGENS, SAMUEL CHILD, JOSEPH MCKELHEER, SEAN BROWNE, TOM HOLLOWAY, DANIEL O’MEARA, SELINA GILES
RUNTIME: 87 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: USA
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