J. Horton’s gore-fest A Hard Place opens on a bad zombie movie at an old drive-in, where a gang of criminals is robbing the cashier of the drive-in. One of the thieves, Candy (Jennifer Michelle Stone II) shoots the cashier for fun. They retrieve a mysterious silver case and flee. Their ringleader, Zenia (Lynn Lowry), leads them to a snowy, remote mountain farm, ostensibly as a safe place to lay low. It turns out that Zenia is actually delivering them as breeding stock for her family of supernatural beasts.
The humanoid shapeshifters at the farm are mortal enemies with another clan of supernaturals that can only be described as tree-people. The two groups have a Hatfields/McCoys style generational feud between them, and the humans led by Zenia have to fight through the tree warriors to get to the farm. They are rescued by the monster family from the farm (in human form), but the relief soon turns to panic. The humans are locked into cages as preparations are made for the final battle with the tree-people, which comes at the time of an eclipse. During the eclipse the farm monsters fully transform into their beast forms, giving them enhanced strength and resilience.
The skirmish with the tree folk invokes volumes of splashy gore as blood and entrails fly. In the chaos, the humans are freed by Zenia, as she feels slighted by the farm matriarch, Henrietta (Felissa Rose), who refused to turn her into an immortal beast, despite her delivering the humans. The beast clan devolves into factions and continues to fight each other as well as the walking trees.
Rachel Amanda Bryant as Fish, caught in the bloody chaos of A Hard Place
“…Zenia is delivering them to her family of supernatural beasts…”
There are many twists and turns, and if you’re keeping up so far, you have shown extraordinary patience. Horton shows a gleeful disregard for any qualities one might call cinematic. The point of this outing is the splatter set pieces. The plot, such as it is, exists only to create opportunities for the bloody clashes. One peculiar note is that the monsters seem to love gruesome zombie movies themselves, and several times (including at the drive-in) they are shown watching a film-within-a-film B movie featuring Bai Ling. I found myself wanting to see more of that film.
There’s little in the way of character development in A Hard Place. Candy is a psychopath. Fish (Rachel Amanda Bryant) is a victim. Hurt (Kevin Caliber) is a muscular stud who winds up being weirdly ineffectual when he’s not banging Candy or being pursued by one of the farm monster women. Dialogue is equally goofy and overdone. The humanoid farm monsters speak in a cartoonishly exaggerated Appalachian accent.
Let’s face it, the viewer who seeks out this movie (and it will have an audience) is not here for a cerebral film experience. It’s all about the carnage. Of course, we never learn what’s in the case. Is it Marcellus Wallace’s soul? The sub-plot with the case feels like we missed something. Why was it at the drive-in? It’s not important. This is one to see while chilling with your friends, and treat this film like a fun, bloody sporting event. Monsters vs Trees, with human collateral damage. Whose side are you on?
"…like a fun, bloody sporting event: Monsters vs Trees"
