Hey gang, Valkor here. While February might be considered the month of love (freaking Valentine's and all), here at TOV, we’ve got nothing but horror in our sights… at least in the MediaView section. This month found “Cut Shoot Kill” to be a big hit with the Val-man. But can the next film on deck “Bad Apples”, say the same? Yes and no. Beware of spoilers; there are a lot of them!
Bad Apples follows married couple Helen (Brea Grant) and Rob (Graham Skipper), who are settling into their new cul-de-sac digs after shaking off the dust of California. Unfortunately, they’ve arrived at a bad time; on the one hand, it’s Halloween, which isn't so bad. But it's at this time that these two girls, wearing doll masks, decide to go on a killing spree. And after taking out the local trailer park resident, a pedophile, and even their principal, they now have their sights set on Helen. But Helen doesn’t go down without a fight, so taking her out won't be easy; unfortunately for Rob, he gets gutted like the jack o’lanterns he so endears. The story ends when Helen knifes the two girls, but that proved to be useless because as soon as her back is turned, the two girls vanish without a trace.
The film opens with a pregnant woman, alone on Halloween; she’s suddenly assaulted and knifed by a man, whom we learn is her ex-boyfriend. And after killing her, he kills himself, leaving the new boyfriend to return to find their bodies. Now, the film ends years later, with another pregnant mother, who is being told of Helen’s story because she just so happens to be living in Helen's house. Not only that but they also talk about the incident before Helen (involving the pregnant woman), that she had twins and they survived. Could it be that the twins were the two girls, slicing up the town? Maybe. Possibly. Oh, who are we kidding, it was them! Not only that, but one can assume that the friends of the current pregnant mother, who were doing the awful job of telling the story, are also the two girls. You, as the viewer, can decide. But I’d bet money it’s them.
The Good:
If you take away the opening and ending of the film, you get a pretty decent horror with “Bad Apples”; the film doesn’t do much to explain why the two kids are bad. But we’re to assume that it’s hereditary based on events. And I ain’t even mad about that because I found myself really enjoying the film when the killings kicked in. And there’s just enough death sprinkled throughout to make this film a watchable event. The film is a predictable but an enjoyable mess; I didn’t feel too bad about it until the end. And that’s really my only issue, which I detail in the next section. The performances were OK and I really enjoyed the two girls' silent rampage throughout the film; very Jason Voorhees/Michael Myers-esque (though they did speak a few words). So, if you happen to come across “Bad Apples” while scouring your favorite digital medium, then it’s worth giving it a shot; if anything, it’s a decent film if you’ve got some time to kill.
The Bad:
Once again, I gotta go to the opening and ending of the film; if anything, the ending should have been chopped off because I think the viewing audience will more than likely get what’s going on based on the events of the first few minutes. I mean, It really isn’t that difficult to figure out. Plus, that whole storytelling bit the one girl was doing was just mad annoying. Here I am yelling at her to get to the point of a story that I already know about! I mean that was just painful to watch! Finally, the opening isn’t really necessary. I get that it’s the setup, but that bit of detail could have been left for a sequel.
The Ugly:
That Rob O’Lantern was pretty gruesome!
Bad Apples is available now on digital media such as Google Play and Amazon Instant; while the film’s efforts may be predictable and by the book, in the end, you get a pretty decent slasher horror film that’s not a complete waste of time. Not one of the finest out there, but definitely not one of the worst. So, out of TOV 5 stars, I’m gonna meet “Bad Apples” halfway and give it a 2.5.
