Director – Sam Hodge (Glam, Nocturnus)
Starring – Joshua Adkins (Nocturnus), Hannah Ruth Boyles, and Travis Robinson (Glam, Nocturnus)
Release Date – 2017
Rating – 3/5
Tagline – “The house that never sleeps”
I always find it impressive when I discover a filmmaker from within my home state. It is difficult to do anything artistic in this great state unless you count skipping on your responsibilities and chasing highs as art. I grew up in the poorest county in the state, McDowell, which is also considered the poorest county in the country. Once I moved further up state I realized that the state is not filled with addicts that would rather steal from you than help you. The state is actually home to so many talented individuals just looking for mediums to express themselves.
Last year I befriended West Virginia filmmaker Sam Hodge who had wrapped his first feature film Twelve Pole and was working on his new short. I was trying to do an indie horror event with a local theater and partnered with him and another WV filmmaker for a double feature of their films. I really wanted to check out his film but I couldn’t make the event and then became so bogged down with reviews that I couldn’t find the time. That changed when my friends over at Wild Eye released the movie on DVD under the title Twelve Pole Manor. Now I could finally check out Sam and crews’ hard work. Thank you Wild Eye for sending this one my way.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a group of men who purchase an old house in hopes of doing some minor repairs and flipping it. One of the men and his girlfriend decide to stay in the home one weekend before the repairs begin but some thing strange happens. His girlfriend becomes panicked and leaves him there alone. When his friends arrive after the weekend they discover him completely out of character and short tempered. They suspect his attitude has something to do with his girlfriend leaving him and proceed to work on the home. Things take a dark turn at that point when another one of them becomes easily angered and this time he takes his anger out of his friends using any weapon he can find to inflict pain. **Spoiler Alert**
I’ll be completely honest here. I was looking forward to checking this one out and the film did not disappoint. The movie was just as dark and gory as I was hoping but that doesn’t make this one perfect. It did have some flaws and room for Sam to grow as a director.
The acting in this one is hit or miss. I really enjoyed Joshua Adkins as the lead. He does a fantastic job in his role and gives it everything he has. I also enjoyed Travis Robinson’s performance. I’m sure he is a nice man to be around but he has the look and mannerisms to really pull off the killer in the film. I could see this guy taking on a more serious role as a serial killer or slasher and absolutely killing it. Director Sam Hodge has a role in the film as well. He does a solid job in his role but his character is so flat and generic that he doesn’t really stand out like the others. The rest of the cast does a decent job as well but they do show their inexperience.
The story for this one immediately reminded me a lot of The Amityville Horror which both focus on couples in a haunted house suffering from nightmares and the other one acting out of character or possessed in a sense. The comparisons don’t end there but those are the biggest two. With that being said, this film is way more violent than I was really expecting. The brutality is not spaced throughout the film which would have helped with the pacing. Instead, we get all the carnage on the last leg of the film. My biggest complaint with the film is the dialogue heavy scenes scattered throughout the film. I like horror films that take the time to develop characters and provide back stories but Twelve Pole has several scenes that is dialogue rich that offer very little for the story. They are basically filler to stretch out the film’s running time. Twelve Pole would be hard to beat if this was trimmed down and the murder was evenly spaced throughout the film.
Finally, this film has several death scenes that make use of some great practical effects. We get some great gore and a lot of fucking blood. In fact, we get way more blood than I was expecting. The kills don’t offer up anything new or anything we haven’t seen before. However, what we do get is unforgettable. Overall, Twelve Pole Manor starts off rather slow but kicks like a 12-gauge once we hit the last portion of the film. You come for the supernatural horror film and stay for the gore. This is one I highly recommend you check out because you will not be disappointed.
