Axed (2013)

British Businessman Kurt Wendell (Hansler) loses his job and he literally snaps. He takes his wife Steph (Gordon) and his sexually active daughter Megan (Poesner) along with wimpy son Jay (Rithin) out to a house in the English countryside. This is where he attempts to act out a murderous plan on his entire family and his boss (Henry Douthwaite) who is tied up in the attic and has been having an affair with his wife. The family knows daddy is up to no good when he gives them all insulting gifts and himself a nice new Axe. Trapped in the middle of nowhere Kurt threatens and abuses his family and eventually stabs to death his boss in a bloody knifing. No one is safe at this point as the mentally unstable Kurt attacks his family through the rest of the running time. Writer/Producer/Director Ryan Lee Driscoll explores the family's hidden secrets and uses the family's indiscretions as fuel for Kurt to 'correct' them. Comparisons will be made between "The Shining's" Jack Torrance and this film's Kurt Wendell character as Dad's who went off the deep end and tried to kill their family. In actuality, he has more in common with the crazy father Jerry Blake of "The Stepfather" films in that the disappointing actions of his family inspire his rage. That is of course looking past that both characters are completely off their rockers. There are a few moments of inspired bloodshed and even some suspense but Driscoll's film loses some credibility along the way. There is a giant pick Ax sitting right outside the door that the victims consistently run past while being helpless terrorized by good old Dad but none of them think to pick it up. There seems to be plenty of other opportunities for the family members to escape and none are taken. These things hurt the overall effectiveness of the film which in the end is still entertaining in a time wasting way.

So says one part of the closing credits for AXED. If you read carefully, you will note that this disclaimer does NOT say one way or the other if any fully functioning brains were harmed making the movie, let alone later as the paying public began to watch this sorry excuse for a horror flick. I mean, how can anyone root for the chick to take her top off, when such an occurrence would be tantamount to incest? Not that the cringe-inducing family sex issue is totally avoided here, as the daughter penetrates her dad with chortles of orgiastic ecstasy (by means of a kitchen knife to the belly), just because he killed her boyfriend (or, maybe it's because he killed her mom and her mom's lover?). At any rate, this British offering is SO low-budget it begins to run out of potential victims about halfway through, necessitating the offing of some characters two or three times each. Jonathan Hansler as down-sized (by wife's lover) dad Kurt Wendell is more convincing in psycho mode than loving dad mood. Plus, the opening snippets of radio news readers announcing world-wide financial Armageddon is mere clutter, as it has nothing to do with the actual plot (contradicting it, if anything). All in all, the title is about the only thing clever about this movie. SPOILER: Seemingly working cell phones are boiled, axed, and stomped on throughout this film--prompting the disclaimer--but even the hot daughter does NOT have an iPhone!

I'd read reviews about this film and was intrigued by the conflicting opinions so I had to watch it and find out for myself, being English I love films with a British feel to them. I was majorly disappointed.The plot is thin, the acting is...OK, the character flaws are too many to mention, the filming is mediocre, the script is completely benign.Firstly the plot is intriguing and potentially a good basis for a psychological thriller and drama. This is completely wiped away by the sheer lack of believability of some of the events as the film unfolds.After his first kill, no-one tries to get away or get help. This continues throughout the film, and it's annoying to the point of being ridiculous. No human being would sit and watch someone murdering their mother and then go and sit down for dinner. RIDICULOUS.Furthermore, an iron gardening fork through the foot/ankle and he takes it out and walks (with a bit of a limp), carrying an axe with arm that's connected directly to the chest muscles he got stabbed 3 times in just minutes before.He harps on about this big project going according to plan, to kill everyone and himself by 6am, and then has a monologue about how he wants to see his daughter get married. Before stabbing her.And the stereotypical gay son/abusive father dynamic could have been utilized so much more in this. It was pretty much just an abusive bloke with a wimpy son by the end. They had multiple chances to kill him, but didn't. Didn't even taunt him or get angry with him. They also had MANY chances to flee. And in what looked to be about 15 acres of forest, they finally run away, and daddy finds them in about 5 seconds flat.Utter drivel. The gore wasn't even realistic or satisfyingly gruesome. Neither was the ending. Oh, and *SPOILER ALERT* one last thing. Four pills (count them) in the bowl, he takes five out one at a time and pops them.Only genuine reason for following this all the way through to the end was to see Christopher Rithin put on a good performance.Complete waste of time. Don't bother with it.

First, I am highly surprised to be the first french to comment this film. Why anyone from UK has not commented this yet? I wonder if this movie has been released in Great Britain, theatres or DVD. Hmmm...Anyway, I am not a horror film specialist, although I have seen thousands of them in my film buff life. I expected a little more from this one, when I read the topic. I waited for a sort of "hardgore" version of FALLING DOWN, telling the story of a business man in total distress, who decides one day to bring his whole family in the lost countryside and...Well, I almost forgot what I just watched yesterday night. Nothing special here. But that doesn't mean it's a bad product. Characters are well described, filming OK, but I nearly fell asleep before the end. No, really nothing special.But I am sure it will please many of you.