After getting a book about legendary special effects artist Dick Smith, budding filmmaker Matt Cunningham’s path was set. In his own words, the book “set his hair on fire” as he started working on creating homemade make-up. By this time, it was the early 90s, and horror was expanding a mini-boom as self-aware slashers became popular. In 1995, Cunningham and his friends Ryan Lowery, Carolyn C. Miller, and Brian Walters started working on their slasher parody. Filming occurred in Colorado Springs on a minimal budget with a cast primarily of no-name actors. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough money to market the film, and that’s when Troma stepped in. Lloyd Kaufman helped get the movie in front of audiences by taking it to the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. A few months later, Matt Cunningham’s Decampitated hit video store shelves in November 1998.
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Synopsis
Garret (Mike Hart) and April (Christine Patterson) are organizing a camping trip with their friends to DeCamp Acres. There’s Candace (Amy Gordon), Toby (Steve Ladden), Paige (Bethany La Voo), Roger (Thomas Martwick), and Vince (Deus Xavier Scott). Unfortunately, they get into a car accident on their way there and have to hike the rest of the way. Once they get to the campsite, things don’t get much better as there’s a killer on the loose. Throats are sliced, arms are hacked off, ears get cut off, and people get stabbed with tree taps. Also, the group runs into an old friend of Garrret’s, Jake (Ryan Lowery), who’s become a transvestite. As the group scatters across the woods, the mysterious backwoods killer stalks them, waiting for his moment to strike. Who is this mysterious slasher, and who will survive this camping trip from hell?
Review
Decampitated is one of those movies you’ll love or hate depending on your sense of humor. There’s no hope if a camper trying to escape a killer by hacking her limbs off doesn’t make you giggle. The film is littered with these gags, like a woman beating up the killer with her severed arm. Almost every scene of this movie has some joke or funny moment that comes one after the other. Admittedly, plenty of them miss their mark and often get repeated too much, but there are some real hitters. With a few exceptions, almost everyone plays their parts as silly as possible without mugging for the camera. One of the few exceptions is Amy Gordon, who acts annoyed around these people and always makes passive-aggressive comments. That said, she does have some of the film’s best lines, especially when dealing with Garrett.
It doesn’t look half bad for a film that most likely only had a few thousand dollars in the budget. There are some decent gore effects, and Cunningham keeps the action moving with some fluid camera movements. Unfortunately, this movie is a product of its time, so get used to tight zooms and choppy editing. The soundtrack has a few nu-metal bands, including H2O, Strife, Coalesce, and Hatebreed, as well as some kitschy 40’s music. The vintage music is mainly used when the killer’s about to strike, which adds to the cartoony vibe. That’s probably the best way to describe this film: a live-action cartoon with gore and some poorly aged stereotypes. At slightly over 90 minutes, this movie is a good time waster you and your friends can enjoy laughing at. Overall, Decampitated is rough around the edges, but it makes for a decent bad movie night.
Buy Decampitated from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zibSEJ.
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