In the opening moment of Mark S. Allen’s low-budget indie horror, Don’t Answer, we meet a loving family in their van, driving to their quiet small-town house. When the family arrives, Mom notices the front door is left open. The father enters the house and discovers that the family cat was brutally murdered and mutilated. He heads downstairs where he finds Jack, the kid who lives next door, bloody and unconscious… before Jack violently stabs his father.
Years later, Jack is institutionalized in a mental hospital, but is now being released. His doctor advises against his release, yet Jack is given a new job as a food courier and even a plush support-animal cat. He moves to his hometown of Nicolaus, California (billed as “America’s Safest City”) to start over.
Elsewhere, sisters Molly (Annabel Storm) and Grae (Katie Klein) have just moved into a home, and it turns out Jack’s old killing spree occurred in that very house. Molly gives Jack a warm welcome compared to the rest of the town, where he meets nothing but disdain. During an incident at the local diner, Jack takes matters into his own hands as he deals with two bullies. Has the small town pushed Jack beyond the breaking point?
“Has the small town of Nicolaus pushed Jack beyond the breaking point?”
Don’t Answer is very much a low-budget B-movie slasher. That’s where you find its charm. You have a semi-sympathetic serial killer who just wants to live his life in peace and serenity, only to have it ruined by people. The acting is over-the-top…like it should be, and the gore is gory enough on a modestly low budget. Now, add a handheld camera and permission to murder in nearby homes, and you have yourself the makings of a basic horror film.
With all the blood, impalements, and fake cat mutilations, you know that shooting this film was fun, and we’re having fun at the same time. Jack Amsler plays the killer Jack with a great deal of stoicism and pent-up rage. Jessica Norman is perfect as the final girl with a bubbly, all-American attitude and, in some way, the adult in the room.
Don’t Answer delivers exactly what it promises — a brutal, bloody good time wrapped in small-town paranoia. It’s a scrappy indie slasher that proves you don’t need a big budget to have big scares and plenty of fun.
"…don’t need a big budget to have big scares..."
