‘Butcher’s Bluff’ Review: An Over-Stuffed Slasher Throwback with a Messy Script
William Instone and Matt Rifley’s Butcher’s Bluff positions itself as a throwback to the heyday of the slasher film. There are prominent themes and elements from classic horror in this stalk-and-slash film, but the filmmakers don’t bring many original ideas to the table. The lack of innovation makes Butcher’s Bluff feel more like a fan film than an original creation. Not to mention, the script is kind of a mess.
The setup for Butcher’s Bluff is this:
A group of film students from Austin travel by RV to a remote part of Texas to capture documentary footage for a class project. Their film will attempt to uncover the truth about a series of murders allegedly committed by a man in a pig mask who locals call the Hogman. At the onset, the cast isn’t sure if the subject of their documentary is mere folklore or something more sinister. As the aspiring filmmakers learn more about Hogman lore, they find that his existence is much more than legend. He is a ruthless killing machine and the film students are now in his sights.
The Butcher’s Bluff creative team is clearly comprised of horror fans. I appreciate their love for the genre. However, it seems they forget that a little homage goes a long way. Rather than paying tribute to the classics before carving out its own course, the picture cobbles together core elements from several superior films to craft its entire narrative.
The flick borrows liberally from Halloween (the Hogman is an escaped mental patient who returns to his stomping grounds to continue his reign of terror), Motel Hell (the pig mask and the Hogman’s wardrobe are nearly identical to Farmer Vincent’s getup), and The Blair Witch Project (film students making a documentary about a local legend). Loose inspiration can be fun and nostalgic when used in moderation, but copying and pasting narrative elements from celebrated films does little to help an original production stand on its own.
Many of the picture’s problems stem from a messy screenplay.
A lot of the dialogue comes across like it’s being recited by characters in an ‘80s horror film, but Butcher’s Bluff is set in the present. It’s okay to ape the classic horror vibe. However, if you want the viewer to buy the conceit that these characters are in their early 20s, going to film school in a liberal city, you need to script them accordingly.
Screenwriters William Instone and Renfield Rasputin’s screenplay reads as out of touch with contemporary youth culture. The key players here don’t feel anything like Gen Z film students. For instance, no one bats an eye at one character’s casual use of the R-word. Not only is the apathetic response unrealistic, but the lack of couth adds nothing to the film, only serving to make the paper-thin characters even less tolerable.
The aforementioned incident is compounded by more inexplicable choices. There’s a glut of crude humor, gross-out gags, sex scenes solely for the sake of titillation, and an overall lack of cultural sensitivity throughout.
Butcher’s Bluff is too damn long.
Another major issue is the film’s overstuffed runtime. Butcher’s Bluff features far too many characters. The film goes on and on and on. Butcher’s Bluff clocks in at more than two hours. 45 minutes of the runtime should have been excised from the script before the cameras rolled. Multiple tertiary characters pop up just to die off. Worse yet, the payoff is minimal because many of the deaths unfold outside the frame. I respect the body count aspirations. However, you can’t make an effective body count film where the majority of your deaths transpire off-camera.
The film has a couple of well-respected names on its overstuffed casting roster. Paul T. Taylor and Bill Oberst Jr. are each capable and competent actors. However, both are working with a rough script that paints them as larger-than-life caricatures. Not to mention, neither of them is particularly integral to the film. Each could have been written out without too much retooling required. Both have ties to a wholly unnecessary subplot about marijuana crops.
All of the characters that are actually integral to the plot are one-note. The film is absent an emotional core or even one compelling character. That leaves the viewer with no one to cheer for or even care about.
Butcher’s Bluff could have worked better with a major rewrite. As it stands, the film is a slog to sit through and I’d suggest taking a pass. If you’re curious, you can currently find the flick on VOD via Breaking Glass Pictures.
Summary
A rough script keeps ‘Butcher’s Bluff’ from connecting.
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