No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker (2008)

According to writer/director Dave Payne's Reeker films, 'Death' employs the spirit of executed serial killer The Death Valley Drifter to act as a 'soul taker', a being with a pungent stench who exists in the instant between life and death and who torments those trapped there, killing them in a fashion that mirrors their real life demise.If that makes any sense to you at all, then a) you'll probably enjoy this film, and b) perhaps you ought to seek some kind of professional help, this clearly being utterly derivative clap-trap, yet another logic-free scary movie with a supposedly 'clever' twist (so clever that it was done in the first film, and in many, many other films before that).As with the original Reeker, the only good bit occurs within the first few minutes, with the bulk of the film consisting of a series of puzzling supernatural occurrences which are resolved in a manner that only the most unseasoned of horror film viewers could possibly perceive as innovative.

This film first appeared to be a straightforward cops and robbers movie. Three guys rob a casino and manage to land at the same gas station/cafe as a father (Robert Pine) and son (Michael Muhney), one a retiring sheriff, and the other the new man in town, were eating.Then things got weird, as one man gets his head practically torn of, but was still able to walk and talk, another man, who was burning a car, is also walking around, and, I kid you not, some legs without a body were running. Are we in the Twilight Zone or something? But, just when things couldn't get any stranger, we come to the ending where there appears to be a logical explanation to everything we saw. So what were we watching for the last hour? A soul-catcher reborn or someones imagination run amok. It was an interesting film with just the right amount of gore, a lot of laughs, and enough to keep you interested. Well, not totally. Mircea Monroe and Valerie Cruz were nice eye candy, but they could have made it more interesting.

The other reviewers have pointed to this being a 'kind of/sort of' prequel to "Reeker", which I did not see. The other reviewers also said that if you saw "Reeker" then "No Man's Land" will be kind of a letdown.Without having seen the 'Main Event', I think I agree. But if this is your First view, then by all means, it will be entertaining.Without giving away any plot-- a assemblage of characters, including the obligatory 'Fleeing criminals' are holed up at an isolated desert gas station/motel to find they are trapped and being stalked by something Hideous. Starts as a simple, time-worn horror/slasher premise, which can prove to be limp and boring except for either creative laughs or extra buckets of splatter. You know-- a "Jason" in the Desert sort of thing.Except-- this movie takes a vague left turn. It isn't about the Splatter-- though there is a bit of that. It's about some strange, unexplained supernatural rules: Rules that must be adhered to. . .or enforced.Think about it that way as you watch and begin to scratch your head-- then when the end comes, it will all try to snap together. Yeah-- with gaps and loose pieces, but still. That's why I gave it a 7. That plus the notion of a 'Reeker' as a supernatural creature seemed more corny than scary at first glance-- so you think it will be cornball fun and yucks might be disappointed when it doesn't deliver. Instead, I came away from this movie thinking of an episode out of Neil Gaiman's Sandman universe. So to me, this movie was more Supernatural Thriller than Horror. Not the BEST-- but nicely entertaining. Give it a try.

oh my god this movie is the best thing ever seen in my life here my i like the part where the gas tank blew and sheriff flew 18 feet into the air and the invisible wall that cool one of the sheriff try to go throw but wall bounce back the other car crash in the wall that so cool the man head was cool love that movie. oh yea who was the guy with a thrower he look so scary he killed people back then he ran a guy on a street gross. one of the sheriff was sitting on back of the car he walked into motel he saw a shoe on the bottom he looked somewhere it was gone he Saw head on the bed that saw cool the leg whet outside. one of the sheriff he nose was blooding then he past out who how he noise bleed that was cool too