One can’t deny that the true horror franchises dominated in the late 70s and well into the 80s, especially due the popularity of the slasher genre namely with Halloween [1978] and then of course Friday the 13th [1980], although a close relative to these films comes from the subgenre of horror comedies and parodies, such as Student Bodies [1981] and Scary Movie [2000] which spawned its own franchise. Therefore using the slasher formula, filled with clichés, it serves for a clever off-shoot for filmmakers from Lumberjack Man [2015] who sought pancake blood syrup (seriously) to this creation by director and writer Jeremy Sumrall (Possum Walk [2010]) who firmly poked tongue through the cheek, (sadly that scene doesn’t exist in this movie). The movie was originally entitled The Pickaxe Murders III: The Final Chapter, fret not, you didn’t miss anything, there wasn’t a part one or two, and one doesn’t need to wait too long to meet the killer as he’s on screen fairly quickly, the same can’t be said in the length of time to achieve distribution which came from Wild Eye Releasing nearly 5-years later.

A classic scrolling title explains the back story for the film, starting in the summer of 1982 a massacre occurred involving 10 murders that were blamed on Alex Black, supposedly a maniac son of Satan with only two survivors a camper named Adrienne and a Deputy Matthews. Then shockingly a year later a series of more mysterious killings occurred at the Meadow Falls Sanitarium, where Adrienne spent the past year as a patient. I know a lot of it sounds awfully similar to plenty of films, and the character name reference is clearly obvious. Therefore, everyone is caught and part three can start with once again in the summer months of 1988 with two hikers engaging in private intercourse and providing the audience with the so-called required T&A. Afterwards, they somehow discover a devilish amulet that possesses one of them and hence resurrects Alex, who sets out on the course for a small rural town. It’s always amazing how the hulky stalking killers have such a great sense of direction, nonetheless, a ruthless hell ride occurs, no set course to direct one through the carnage.  Aside from the three primary characters (Alex, Adriene, and Mathews) the rest serve as fodder for the maniacal deals of their homicidal killer, which is typical in slasher films, all to raise the body count numbers, while Alex does his best to mirror the imposing stylizations of Jason Voorhees. The supposedly implied connection with now Sherriff Mathews (A. Michael Baldwin (Phantasm [1979])) and Adrienne (Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley [2017]), but the chemistry doesn’t fit well at all, though Shepis makes her role similar to that of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978), some good character structure. One can’t dive too much further into the storyline, as there’s not much meat clinging to the bones of script for that discovery.

The film dives into a mayhem giving some gooey delicious fun of splatter slasher, unsure of that, think of a slasher movie meeting Troma while attending Nuke ‘Em High. Yes there’s slashing of throats, crushing a victim’s head, separate limbs from the body, sadly it doesn’t save the movie, due to the lack of direction and the plot exposes numerous holes. Although overlooking the abysmal dialogue and centering solely on the over the top gore, blood and having some T&A, often saves a slasher movie, nevertheless the audience of today want substance to fill their entertainment pleasure.

In essence, this film boils to a few pieces, first Shepis does a fine performance in this low budget horror film, of all the characters hers has the most depth, and it’s obvious that the intent of the filmmaker was to show himself as a fan of the subgenre, but misses the point often, it’s not a Pool Party  Massacre [2017]. In the end, it becomes its own victim stumbles badly, bleeding profusely and babbling lines of dullness waiting for the credits.

TAGLINE:

• You Thought It Was Over. It’s Not Over. He Came Back. He Brought His Axe.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2614814/

https://www.facebook.com/pickaxemovie

https://firstweekofwinterfilms.com/

IMDb Rating: 2.9/10

Baron’s Rating: 2.5/10