Hell Squad

It’s camcorder dreams of endless screams with the superb shot-on-videotape slasher short Hell Squad, written and directed by Carter Bentley and Grayce Anne Mosier. Cheerleader hazing time! In order for new cheerleaders to be allowed on the squad, they have to go into the woods and eat a can of beef near the site of the closed cannery. Legend has it that a crazed meat packer named Helga went overboard with a competition for a bonus over who could can the most meat, with co-workers disappearing into cans for the win.

While in the woods, they see the figure of a masked figure with a meat apron and meat cleaver, which they figure is a gag that is part of the hazing. It isn’t, and people go missing, but no one wants to talk about it at school. So why does everyone keep dying?

It is so funny how the analog age looks in the rose-colored rear view. Those of us who lived through it had violently different attitudes about a lot of what is dripping with nostalgia right now. For many of us, Blockbuster was the enemy, which we fought by only going to independent video stores, which Austin, Texas, had about eight of at the height of the ’90s. Nowadays, Blockbuster is a beloved symbol of many childhoods that has morphed into a fashion label that I wear religiously.

“…people go missing, but no one wants to talk about it at school.”

Same with shot-on-camcorder movies. Back in the day, I hated these pictures. I would read reviews of them in the Film Threat Video Guide and make note to avoid them like a shot-on-video plague. Jump over three decades later, and I find myself gleeful to see the decrepit style back in action, as Hell Squad was shot entirely on a Sony Handycam TRV608. It is all there, from the bleeding colors on fuzzy images to the woefully inadequate sound from the directional microphone.

Everything that was once hateful is now welcomed back like a VHS prodigal son. All late fees are forgiven. We can also thank the summer cult hit I Saw The TV Glow for reviving the fine flavors found in the videotape format. All the flaws are now characteristics of the art form. It is sort of like when Grindhouse film print damage became chic to add on as a post-production effect. All the shades of tape degradation are on display in their heat-damaged glory.

And I really love all that candy-color corrosion; it is starting to grow on me like a day-glow fungus. It also helps that Hell Squad has some of the best cinematography ever seen in a camcorder horror movie. The angles and shot compositions are superior, particularly those horrifying shots with the slasher in the frame. The editing is very snappy as well.

I am also impressed by how the filmmakers were able to distill all the best elements of the slasher sub-genre to create what feels like a complete movie experience in just under 30 minutes. Maybe slasher movies work best when they are about the length of an old Twilight Zone episode. Hell Squad is an old-school blast of analog horror that will rewind you back to the day.