Review: This is one review that has been a little too long coming and it is for the awesome film known as "Cross Bearer". Cross Bearer follows a religious fanatic that has a mission to rid this world of what he sees as being filth. He doesn't just preach at them and tell them what they have done wrong, instead he brutally punished them with his blood soaked hammer of god. Also we follow a stripper who is getting sick of her life and seems to be stuck in her own personal hell.
To myself a plot like that is quite interesting. Before I watched this film I was thinking that I was in for nothing but a blood bath and I got a little more than that served up to me. Aside from the gore this film does get quite intense and have some pretty tense moments, also there is a certain level of creepiness that consumes the scenes when he is either hunting down one of his victims or he is killing them and religious gibberish is rolling out of his mouth or being played over the scene.
This film only lasts about 68 minutes and gets going fast on the gore, violence, and sex. Alot of the film is quite fast paced and does go by smoothly, but you do get the occasional slowdown that helps to not make the film overwhelming and easier to stay with. For the most part the plot is simple and easy to follow. I especially like this one scene where five of the characters are sitting in a car talking about movies and one of the girls says how she hates the one guy in the cars films because they are nothing but people sitting around talking and how just because a film has trash in it doesn't make it a bad film, it makes it entertaining. I don't know why but that scene was great and memorable.
One thing I was quite shocked about was the great level of acting involved. Most of the time on films that are shot on a low budget the acting is usually fair to bad which makes it uneven. I really enjoyed the performances on the part of all the cast. Each one embodied their character so well even if it was a character that just running away from the killer and that's all they really did. They took their roles very seriously and it does show.I even liked the scumbag strip club owner who is very unlikeable due to how he treats people. The "Cross Bearer" is a very intimidating presence and takes over the scene when he is in it. Unlike some slasher films you do get to see what he looks like under his fabric mask at the beginning of the film. I actually liked that alot because it goes outside the walls of a slasher film.
Like I stated before this film is filled with tons of gore and it is all practical effects. The look of the gore is top notch and is very brutal. I think the most memorable gore was one of the girls has half her face ripped up. I really think the gore presented in Cross Bearer will please the gorehound in every horror fan who comes upon this one. Also this is another example of how a low budget film does gore that almost all big budget modern films cannot seem to even come close to.
Overall this is a damn good horror film that is well crafted and does need to be given a chance by every die hard horror fan. I can't wait to dive into the next film by the director of this film which is entitled "The Cemetery"! Now go and buy this film or the cross bearer will come for you!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Adam Ahlbrandt
Genre: Horror/Slasher
DVD Release Year: 2013
Theatrical Release Year: 2013
Time Length: 68 mins.
Rating: Not Rated
Company: Adversary Films
ADDITIONAL SCREENSHOTS:
Review: This is one review that has been a little too long coming and it is for the awesome film known as "Cross Bearer". Cross Bearer follows a religious fanatic that has a mission to rid this world of what he sees as being filth. He doesn't just preach at them and tell them what they have done wrong, instead he brutally punished them with his blood soaked hammer of god. Also we follow a stripper who is getting sick of her life and seems to be stuck in her own personal hell.
