Spring Break Killer - DVD

Movie: Actually, Rachel (Shannon Hinnedael) had been looking forward to spending Spring Break with her best friends Mila (Christina Corgliano) and Chloe (Nicole Zeoli), as she does every year. At a Palm Springs mansion provided to them by a wealthy client of Rachel's father, the girls plan to have a rollicking weekend of partying with Rachel's boyfriend Shane (Robert Adamson) and his buddies. Too bad she has to take her younger sisters Sarah (Morissa O`Mara) and Nikki (Alana O`Mara) of all people. Especially with the problematic Sarah, the friends clash again and again on the drive, which soon becomes a minor matter, however, when the car of the five girls is pursued by a strange car. Finally arriving at the secluded mansion, the girls think they are safe - unaware that a truly murderous weekend lies ahead of them...

Spring Break Killer is a fairly successful low budget horror that, while very obviously borrowing from other representatives of its genre, ends up entertaining well, and not just because of the successful resolution. After an opening sequence that strongly reminds of Wes Craven's Scream, director Jim Valdez still uses the thriller Joy Ride and numerous teen slashers for his cinematic debut. The characters are drawn very template-like, the conflicts between the characters little original and their behavior genregerecht often very illogical. The typical slasher ingredients blood and naked facts, are also used quite sparingly. But the film can score with an atmospheric location and some successful moments of suspense, which comfort over some of the minor weaknesses.

But still should not be expected more than decent average. The low budget, the still quite inexperienced director and the actors and actresses not necessarily blessed with award-worthy talent simply get in the way of an all-around positive overall impression too much. Moreover, the film suffers from the fact that the too obvious borrowings from other works almost force direct comparisons to the role models. And that's where Spring Break Killer just can't keep up. If Valdez had paid a little more attention to independence, if he had added more effective moments of suspense and if he had shortened some of the dialogue scenes that are way too long, especially in the middle part, then his debut could have been a really good slasher.

But this way only an average horror thriller has been created, which has neatly realized its intention to simply offer good genre entertainment. If you don't expect more and can overlook some clichés, you can safely join the girls on their murderous weekend trip and will be rewarded with a very nice ending. And so all in all: with deductions still well worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: That the film had to get by with a very small budget and therefore was not necessarily shot with the highest quality equipment, the picture is just in the dark scenes to look at. Because while the bright sequences can boast a powerful color scheme and a good to very good image sharpness, there are some obvious weaknesses in the dark moments such as slight image noise, small blurs and exaggerated contrasts. The sound doesn't offer any outstanding effects fireworks, but transports the dialogue powerfully out of the home theater speakers and also has a few atmospheric surround moments to offer. For a low-budget production, this is perfectly adequate. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has only the trailer and other program tips to offer.

Conclusion: Spring Break Killer is a low-budget horror thriller staged according to a familiar pattern, but has quite a few good moments of suspense and a successful ending to offer. The acting performances are on average B-movie level and the dramaturgy will definitely not win any award for originality. But since the movie doesn't want to do more than offer entertaining genre entertainment, the obvious flaws don't weigh so heavily that it would completely destroy the entertainment value. Therefore, in the end, the whole thing isn't quite a big hit, but it's certainly enough for an entertaining 80 minutes. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp