Review by Golden State Haunts and EventsIn American Backwoods, four months after one of the most brutal slaughters happened in American history, four friends, Kid (Jeremy Isabella), Dude-Guy (Tyler Rice), Buddy (Shawn Thomas) and Bro (Dayo Okeniyi – The Hunger Games and Terminator: Genisys) travel from New Hampshire to the Canadian border to visit a private strip club in a rite of passage after a party they were to attend gets raided. They never make it to their destination after their car spins out and Officer Girth (Matt Hish) deems it unsafe to continue. The four friends are then taken captive and what ensues is a violent film filled with gore and violent scenes of rape.With everything going on the movie is somewhat hard to follow so viewers must pay attention to all the subtleties and undertones. Director/writer Flood Reed has created an ultriovelent film that covers several topics spanning from mythology and horror to comedy. He even has a few scenes in the film. The scenes of gore seem more high budget using practical effects. Once the movie kicks into high gear it may offend and repulse but it offers a little for everyone. The only thing we didn't like was the complexity of the movie as we like our horror films to flow more smoothly and not have to try to peel back confusing layers.

This is one of those movies that thinks it's winking at you and being playful with the genre, sort of the way Scream did. But it's strictly amateur hour, so badly acted and written that the effort just ends up being embarrassing. Let me put it this way. It's one of those movies that distorts the picture and plays ominous music all the time (and I do mean ALL the time) so as to telegraph to you that something scary is happening, when nothing scary is happening.It's not a matter of it being low budget, as they actually seem to have had some money. (And some of the scariest movies are super-low budget.) It's not a lack of money, it's a lack of the basic ability to frighten or otherwise entertain.

That time all the horrors of a road trip gone wrong met in the woods and ran some cannibal crazed evil up your a**, "American Backwoods: Slew Hampshire" is the terror that unfolded. The film is written and directed by Flood Reed, a man whose lumberjack stature and woodsman appearance is as sexy as it is intimidating. Qualities that are only outweighed by his insanity and talent for creating a "mind-f**k, cluster nut" explosion of entertainment.The story follows some friends out to complete a rite of passage styled road trip to get laid and bond. What happens in "Slew Hampshire" takes that desire and twists it into a perversion of exploitation, and backwood horror that is literally dumbfounding. Seriously there is so many elements of the horror genre colliding in this film that I was delightfully, jaw drop, amazed. Usually films that go for this amount of fast-paced complexity fails big time. "American Backwoods" is not that film. Things hit the g-spot from all angles-g as in gore, gratuity, and greatness. Let me just say that somewhere between "Brokeback Mountain" and "I Spit On Your Grave" permeates a nightmare so insane that only Hell could handle its girth.This is that nightmare. The special effects and gore are visceral, blood-soaked moments of grue that will delight any splatter film horror fan. The cinematography is a blend of campfire horror suspense mixed with grindhouse torture-porn realness. And as if that wasn't enough to pull from Flood Reed brings in some perfectly timed and tuned dark humor that plays with horror comedy, but this film is by no means to be confused with anything currently out there in horror comedy. Whatever crazy that possesses Reed's mind is a beautiful damnation of artistry and madness. "American Backwoods: Slew Hampshire" is an onslaught of gory awesomeness. Overall "American Backwoods: Slew Hampshire" is a fun, twisted blend of Darwinian horror and a hunger games of "Deliverance" inspired terror that should make you second guess that road trip to North America's hidden gems and honey spots. The story is elevated, next level insanity, the characters are dark and evolved. The special effects and atmosphere is exciting and full of classic horror energy placed in a truly modern piece of entertaining terror. A must for any horror fan regardless of which subgenre gets you off!

I often wonder where these earnest, "rave reviews" by "raving reviewers" come from. They often appear right before or immediately after the release of a (typically low budget, usually horror) film, from accounts created (suspiciously) around the same time as the film's release. The posters review this one film, and this one film only, and then they promptly vanish into the æther forever....Speaking of this film, it's mediocrity manifest (though not without some small measure of inspiration and merit behind it). No matter what the other "reviewers" claim, Slew Hampshire hardly breathes new life into the "People Stuck in the Woods, Horror Ensues, Commonsense Ignored" genre. It treads a well worn path; starting with a (not altogether successful) comedic tone and descends into horror. It attempts an oddly philosophic tack which I'll admit is rather interesting, but ultimately for naught. As horror films are wont to do, it tackles the darker aspects of man (rape, race, wanton violence and gruesome killings), but the film is scattered and unfocused, touching on a half-dozen genres (which I have no problem with so long as it serves the greater purposes and needs of the story while remaining entertaining; I needn't have my hand held through a film and I can certainly admire the ambition): Comedy, Road Trip, Hillbilly Horror, Gruesome Torture, Creature Feature, Exploitation.... The effects and gore were passable, though hardly does that a movie make. The cinematography was... experimental in an earnest, art-school-sort-of-way, but the filters, effects and framing were more a distraction than an aid. The acting, direction and story are at times awkward and hackneyed. The story? Well, you probably already know the story, though it does offer a few "twists". It was written, directed, filmed, cast, and acted in by apparent hydra Flood Reed (who also went to the trouble to write a very enticing Summary of the film here on IMDb.com, as well a song on the soundtrack). Think: Joe Swanberg, but with some actual talent, vision and drive. Even in this rather disappointing film they are evident and I'll be keeping an eye on Reed as he hones his skills and develops his craft.