October Horror Challenge 2022 #74: "Meatcleaver Massacre"

Nifty title, right? This movie has a great title, and I hope the rule of low-budget horror applies here and the title is indicative of what the movie wI'll contain, so we can expect a meatcleaver massacre to occur at some point in this movie. I've never heard of this movie before it appeared on Shudder, but I added it to my watch list based on the title alone, so I was excited to check it out today and see what it has to offer.

This movie is about a college professor who specializes in ancient rites and rituals. When his family is attacked and killed by four of his students, he uses an ancient incantation to summon an evil spirit to hunt down the attackers and avenge his family. This kind of reminds me of the plot of the movie Pumpkinhead, with the dad summoning a vengeful spirit to avenge the deaths of his family.

The deaths of the family are really gruesome and violent. I dont get the point of the crime, either. it seems to be a senseless killing with no motive that the police can find. The motive is just that they were disgruntled students of his and they intended to prank him, but when one guy who is the ringleader of the group, violently bludgeons the professor and then orders the rest of the guys to kill the professor's family, they agree to do it and they just kill them, with no apparent hesitation or remorse or anything. it's a violent scene, and the professor can really be forgiven for wanting violent retribution after this attack. Maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age but it was hard watching the attack on the professor's family for me because there was no reason behind it, just senseless killing and violence.

So after the attack on his family the professor is left paralyzed and in a coma, but he recalls enough of what he taught to remember the Gaelic chants to summon the vengeance demon, which the ringleader of the group who killed the professor's family, named Mason, is seen ridiculing in the opending sequence of the film for being "fake." He will believe in the demon soon enough though when it starts dispatching his friends. The revenge on the killers is swift and violent, as violent as their earlier senseless killing of the professor's family. There's a scene where the detective investigating the killings tries to warn Mason about the vengeance demon, saying he might be able to survive an attack by the demon if he finds and recites a counter-incantation, but he just goes off and commits another violent act, and then is attacked by the vengeance demon. The ending offers some retribution for the killings, but it's too little too late for me. This is a good movie, don't get me wrong, it's just sad to me to see all the senseless violence. Very depressing.