Resurrection County
Year: 2009
Director: Matt Zettell
Stars: Dayton Knoll, Adam Huss, Kathryn Michelle
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Dark Highway Films
Running Time: 87 Mins
Official Website: http://www.resurrectioncounty.com/




I was originally going to use this review for the latest edition of Reviews From the Horror Chamber, but it’s so good that I wanted to post it now.

“Resurrection County” is Matt Zettell’s follow up film to the very shocking “The Cellar Door”, which I gave a rave review, inside my Reviews From Horror Chamber column, last year.

The film is about a group of suburbanite friends, who are out on a camping trip. They travel out to the remote southern town of Enoch. When first stepping into this town, they find that southern hospitality do exist, in this day and age. They would soon find that the southern hospitality is too good to be true. Now they are trapped in the town, where the locals are interested in getting rid of these visitors, for good, in this very gothic horror film.

Matt Zettell is a director that horror fans should be on the lookout for. This guy is one very talented horror director. If I thought that “The Cellar Door" was shocking enough, then comes along “Resurrection County”. This film is very shocking and brutal, as it makes “The Cellar Door look like a PG-13 horror film compared to this. Zettell’s direction is dead on. I liked how he uses the same style from the last film and expand upon it, as there’s more action and shock value here. One of the things that he did much better was his choice of sets, as it gives that eerie vibe that present through the whole film. He does a great job creating a gothic setting that makes the film creepy throughout. Another that looked much better was the directing of the actors. He did a very good job, in that department, as there’s much more intense action here, thus you need intense and sadistic performances. This film has it all. The acting is very good. Zettell does a great job making the performances either very intense or very sadistic. It’s one of those movies, where I never ever want to visit that place.

The screenplay written by James Cotton and Matt Yeager was very intense. That’s one of things that I want to see in a horror film, as I want the action and conflict to be intense. This was one very intense film from start to finish. One of the things that made this film very intense was that they build tension between the characters and the action very well. It makes this film very suspenseful and some the action was shocking to the point that you are left emotionless. That’s what makes a successful horror film shocking. Also, I liked the way they wrote the villains parts. The writers make them very sadistic and violent especially the leader of their village, as he comes off as a David Koresh type leader. They do that, so they come off as very scary, not the cookie cutter type that you see in most low budget films. It leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. Also, I thought the character development was very good. I liked, how they developed the characters, as it made you really care about the group of friends. Also, they make you want to hate the villains that are chasing this group. They make them monster like, so it makes your terrified when one of the townspeople come on-screen. It’s very effective, as you hate all of these people.

The only way horror films coming back to the mainstream are films like this that make you scared and terrified. It does both and then some. “Resurrection Country” is a very shocking and brutal film that will leave you in shock.

Review Rating: Five Stars