“The Bible Belt Slasher: The Holy Terror” is the feature film follow-up to 2010’s slasher short written and directed by Bradley Creanzo. It is a low budget, retro flick set in the 80’s, and it is so bad that it is almost good. It stars Creanzo, Taylor Raftree, Keri Korner, Greg Huneke, Stella DiFabio, Dan Del Ben, Travis Raftree, Andy Salmon, Siddharth Gupta, Genoveva Rossi, Nicolina Hemingway, Robert J. Huntley, Missy Heather Byron and Larry Baumer as Jason Fry. A lot of the cast you may recognize from another low budget horror franchise- “Kids Go To The Woods…Kids Get Dead”. This is pretty much dime-store, hot-mess movie making its best. So much about “The Bible Belt Slasher: The Holy Terror” doesn’t work, I will get to that in a minute, one thing that does work here is the story its self. It is a great slasher set-up with a truly psychotic killer. I didn’t recognize any mess-ups in the story arc, the base tale and the back story of the killer seemed cohesive, and the continuity is definitely there. Most of the hot mess comes from over-stated scenes with over exaggerated line delivery. That being said, what should have been acting that should have made me turned this off, actually became entertaining. Almost as if Creanzo was aiming for a tongue-in-cheek, spoof-like quality. I am not sure, but for some reason what doesn’t work with the acting and character development is part of what makes “The Bible Belt Slasher II” so bad it is almost so good.
Now the special effects and 80’s “staging” of this film is a hodgepodge of hit and miss. When Creanzo has an obvious control of the environment, “The Bible Belt Slasher II” looks and feels totally 80’s, but outdoor scenes and moments when scenes are at the mercy of its enviornment the 80’s become blended with the now. However, once again, as with the acting, instead of turning me off of this film, it becomes entertaining. Like a game to spot what doesn’t belong-and trust there is a lot in here that is not even close to the 80’s. Still the mash-up of decades feels like some sitcom parents flashback to their teen days.
The film has a couple of things that demand respect, the full on use of practical gore effects and blood without pulling away from the death scene is commendable-and it works. There is a lot of splatterfest happening in “The Bible Belt Slasher II” that will please any fan of low budget / homegrown/ SOV horror fans. Plus the cast and Bradley Creanzo seem to be on the same page as far as vision and passion for making this movie happen. The things that most horror fans will hate about this one, like the silly one-liners and hilarious character portrayals, are the things that I found entertaining. A few scenes are worthy of a good laugh, sometimes intended, sometimes not.
Overall, “The Bible Belt Slasher II: The Holy Terror” is not gonna go over well, but for many this is gonna be one of those bad movies that make its way to cult status. Oh and it happens during the Christmas holiday season so that is a nice additive. The music and soundtrack is the other element of this movie that works. The music screams 80’s hard rock which pulled me back to my youth, and the instrumental is classic slasher/giallo sweetness that creates both the mood and atmosphere needed to put this thing in retro status. “The Bible Belt Slasher II” is a cheap, fun, slasher that really can be entertaining if you don’t take it serious.
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