The new wave of tradition-honoring heritage slashers gets one done Texas style in the muscular indie horror film Butcher’s Bluff, directed by William Instone and Matt Rifley from a script by Instone and Renfield Rasputin.
Chris (Jeremy London) and Katie (Jaclyn Hays) are both enjoying the vibrant nightlife available in Emerald Hills, Texas, at 10 at night. In other words, they are in a parked pickup truck in the woods screwing. Chris doesn’t pull out, and they have a loud argument before Katie goes to piss on a tree. Maybe if they hadn’t been so noisy, they wouldn’t have been brutally murdered by the Hogman (William Instone), the towering backwoods killer in a hand-sewn hog mask.
In fact, there are a pack of film students from Austin who are heading over to Emerald Hills to make a Hogman documentary, as 28 people have disappeared over the years. In the camper are Rodger (Michael Fischer), Nicole (Paige Steakley), Derick (Johnny Huang), Samantha (Samantha Holland), Tina (Kayla Anderson), Jake (Santiago Sky), and bong-hitting, long-haired Bobby (Dakota Millett).
“The gang gathers together with liquor and weed around the campfire that night, retelling the story of the Hogman.”
They stop by the spooky antique shop run by Jed (Bill Oberst Jr.), as he has the original plastic hog mask used in the first murders long ago. Jed warns Rodger about messing around in the woods, then slips him some homegrown magic mushrooms. Meanwhile, Samantha is using the dirtiest restroom in the county when she sees a hole in the wall with an eye peeping through.
After storming out of the store, they head out to the house Rodger’s parents have back in the woods. The gang gathers together with liquor and weed around the campfire that night, retelling the story of the Hogman and the horrible bullying incident that caused him to become a vicious masked killer. While they tell the story, the Hogman listens from nearby…
Butcher’s Bluff advertises itself as a modern slasher done in the style of the ’80s, which it achieves in spades. However, Instone’s core inspiration here goes back further, about 50 years ago, to the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The Hogman is a walking tribute to Leatherface, what with the hulking form, masks made of skin, and being non-verbal. Hogman’s getup is also extra-scary when it appears out of the darkness, as shadows find their way into the most sinister crevices of the pig mask. The directors also include the element from the 1974 classic that is arguably its best—the famous taxidermy art direction.
"…delivers an old school bloodbath to wash away life's boredom."
