Blackburn debuted on VOD and DVD in the UK on Monday, August 29th, courtesy of Matchbox Films and Solo Media. Despite what IMDB says, I don’t think this title is available in The United States and Canada yet, but I definitely wanted to get a review posted as soon as possible because this is going to be a movie that you want to keep a close eye on. From the moment it started to the moment it ended, I was highly entertained by a bunch of conflicted elements that all somehow meshed together into a really fun story. Blackburn could end up being a sleeper hit in The States as long as there’s enough eyes on it. So, read on!
Blackburn is written by Natasha Baron and directed by Lauro Chartrand (Lead and supporting cast members include Sarah Lind (The Exorcism of Molly Hartley), Emilie Ullerup (Leprechaun: Origins), Maja Aro (Lost Boys 3: The Tribe), Alexander Calvert (“Scream: The TV Series”), Zack Peladeau (“Being Human”), Calum Worthy (“Aquarius”), Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs. Jason), Mike Dupud (Hollow Man 2), Ken Kirzinger (Wrong Turn 2: Left for Dead), Brad Loree (Halloween: Resurrection), Jacqueline Robbins (The Wicker Man) and Joyce Robbins (The Wicker Man). Jen and Sylvia Soska, creators of American Mary, See No Evil 2 and “Hellevator,” also have a featured appearance.
The film follows, “A forest fire and rock-slide that leave five bickering college friends trapped in a small Alaskan ghost-town with a horrifying history. When they seek refuge inside an abandoned mine they must band together to survive as the angry inhabitants slaughter the friends one-by-one.”
Blackburn begins with a quick two-person killing and the opening deaths are particularly unnerving because it’s a married couple traveling with a baby. Whenever a child (or animal, honestly) is brought into a horror film, it makes the plot that more suspenseful because any viewer with a heart would be jarred at seeing a young person die on screen. This plot device was an early way for the filmmakers to rope people in. Will the baby survive? Did the baby survive? You’ll just have to watch to find out what happens. Blackburn keeps up with the typical formula of progression as we meet our starring characters, all of whom are marginally enjoyable minus one. We get a great introduction to their personalities, but this is followed by a really cheesy CGI rock-slide that kind of tarnished the quality of production I had seen up until that point. Was this the beginning of the end of my enjoyment?
Sometime later our 20-something-year-olds arrive at a rest stop in the middle of no where and that is when all the movie magic was re-captured. The rest stop is completely nostalgic, completely creepy and one of the best decorated sets I’ve seen. I lot of effort was put into making the rest stop a safe haven that’s also harboring dark secrets and I can say that those efforts payed off. Next, we meet the rest stop attendants – two twin women played by Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins – and this is when I fell in love with Blackburn. Only used as secondary characters, Jacqueline and Joyce easily play the best characters in the entire feature. The same creepiness and nostalgic “you don’t want to go there” atmosphere that was created in the rest stop was embodied by these two women in human form. Expert casting decision here and I sincerely hope to see The Robbins twins in more horror features soon.
When the 20-something-year-olds arrive at the mine, their idea of a place to hide out for the night until they can try to bum a ride in the morning, this is when all the action starts. The relationships between the friends begin to deteriorate as secrets are revealed, causing them to split up into different groups that head in different directions within the mine. I know you can tell what happens next! The group is systematically murdered by two heathens and I was glad when the dude who was rude to my girls (Jacqueline and Joyce) bit the dust. As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, there are so many horror elements at play here, it’s almost as if the writer borrowed elements from every subgenre of horror. Without giving away anything to spoiler-y, I can best describe Blackburn as My Bloody Valentine meets Bloody Mary meets Wrong Turn meets Devil’s Rejects. It’s a crazy, crazy time with bloody twists and turns at every level. This is how horror films should be made. Dolls, mines, mental asylums, ghosts, scary stories, murderers… It keeps you on your toes with suspense.
If it’s possible, Blackburn can be described as one of the best retro horror films that never tried to be retro. That’s why I loved it so much. It didn’t try to do anything special, yet it succeeded on so many levels. From the inclusion of more backstory over jump scares and sex to the long chase scenes… From the locations used to use of narrative film over found footage… An absolutely wonderful piece of cinema. This is cinema, not just a feature film. Anyone can write a script, produce a movie and send it out to distributors. But few can make a movie that’s worthy of critical success. Blackburn is that movie. It’s eerie, suspenseful and has the perfect vibe for a late night viewing and for Halloween season in general. Easily one of my favorite films of 2016 so far. I loved it. I loved it so much that I would say it’s worthy of a DVD/Blu-ray purchase over a basic stream. It’ll impress you, I promise. Final Score: 8.5 out of 10.
