Butchers (2020) – Film Review

Director: Adrian Langley
Cast: Julie Mainville, Simon Phillips, Michael Swatton
Certificate: 18

by @Roger Crow

After their car breaks down, four youths are stranded in the middle of nowhere. Little do they know they are being watched. They soon fall captive to a family of sadistic butchers who keep their ‘fresh meat’ tied up in a wooden outhouse.

Any comparison with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is understandable.

This Canadian horror doesn’t have an original bone in its cinematic body. It hates the audience with a passion; the villains are depressing, one-note rednecks, and every bone-splintering ‘shock’ is yawnsome in the extreme.

On the plus side the cinematography is pretty good and the cast are committed, while half the characters should be.

“Depressing”

Tobe Hooper crafted a far better and more memorable shocker almost 50 years ago, and while many film-makers have been riffing on the original Texas Chainsaw since, Butchers is a sweaty mess.

If it has anything going for it, aside from some good production values, it’s the fact it’s a mere 92 minutes, which is still 90 minutes too long.

Do yourself a favour and just look at your local butcher’s shop window for a while. It’ll be more entertaining than this ‘offal’ mess. And that dire pun is better than any of the dialogue in this depressing effort.

Though it’s pretty stomach-churning, if you want a better hardcore horror, Hellraiser: Judgment is far more on the money. And at least it’s more original.

But that’s another review for another time.