Happy Easter?
After finishing my viewing of Blumhouse’s Imaginary tonight, I was more than eager to make it a double feature by renting Wallybird Productions & Motion Picture Exchange’s Easter Blood Easter. This title, from director Diane Foster and writer Allison Lobel, is the latest narrative that takes a family theme and perverts it into something absolutely horrific. In this case, a small town is rocked by sudden disappearances and animal attacks, and it’s going mostly unknown until a wiry middle-aged woman goes on a quest to find her missing husband. Soon, she discovers that 150 years ago the town was besieged by jackalopes – a mythical creature home to North America that’s a dangerous cross between rabbit and deer. Are the jackalopes planning another onslaught to mark the occasion? Watch and find out!
Easter Bloody Easter was produced by Will Amato, Diane Foster, Kelly Grant, Rafi Jacobs, Allison Lobel, Liana Montemayor and Mitch Olson. It features cinematography from Alexa Cha and editing from Nancy Foster. Diane Foster, Kelly Grant, Allison Lobel, Zuri Starks, D’Andre Noire and Zach Kanner star in this horror-comedy of sorts currently available on streaming courtesy of Gravitas Venture. However, the Blu-ray/DVD release is slated for April 2, 2024. If I’m going to be honest, I enjoyed Easter Bloody Easter, but I don’t think it’s worth buying on disc… unless you’re a diehard fan of Easter horror films or holiday horror films in general. Although it’s completely successful in what it hopes to accomplish, it only appeals to a very small audience. And luckily, I’m part of that audience!
I love cheesy, stupid creature features and Easter Bloody Easter checks all of those boxes. It’s campy and silly and 100% something Elvira Mistress of the Dark would horror host if she was still on the air. It also knocks it out of the park by capitalizing on true small-town dread and practical special effects. Did you ever see Drop Dead Gorgeous or Netflix’s Insatiable? Easter Bloody Easter absolutely exists in those words, where Southern charm is replaced by batshit crazy religious zealots. That’s mostly where all the comedy comes from. And the special effects… I wish I could give the whole team credit, but it would take up too much space. The practical effects – and use of stuffed animal bunnies as villains – was so great to see in a picture of this caliber. It fit the whole vibe so accurately and I’m always a sucker for man-made blood and guts.
For horror fans, Easter Bloody Easter contains a decent body count and one balls-to-the-walls city massacre that has some great lines. “My tits! My tits!” “Not the bagel bites!” Director Diane Foster and Wallybird Productions deliver on the gore. And the capable film quality makes for the perfect Easter basket. While this movie is absolutely nuts and on the independent movie spectrum, it was obvious crafted by a cast and crew who knew a thing or two about production value. The acting performances were great, the locations and prop departments went above and beyond, the audio is near flawless, and the camera angles give an intimate look at all the action. My only criticism is some of the lighting tends to white-out some of the scenes, giving them an almost out-of-focus or foggy effect. Just something for the filmmakers to improve on in the future.
It’s obviously I loved this film. Check out Easter Bloody Easter on demand in the next week and get that good holiday horror feel. A thumping, grass roots, blood-soaked adventure scrambled into a Southern comedy. Final Score: 7.5 out of 10.
