****THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS****Were do I begin? I'll start with the plot.A bunch of high school kids ditch the school dance to steal a bus and drive to a cabin for weekend of fun and drinking. The cabin is owned by one of the characters who is ridding in the bus. The bus breaks down, or does it run out of gas? This movie is so bad it doesn't matter.This ordinary slasher movie has some really dumb characters in it. Question. If Jeffrey Dahmer were alive today, and you knew he was a serial killer, and you where he lived, would you go to his residence? I hope the answer is no. Logic would dictate that you don't!These characters kept going back to the place where a cannibalistic, homicidal killer was residing and doing all the killing. Basically saying, "here I am, come and kill me please." Also, there was little to no effort put in to try and fight the killer. Even with crude weapons at their disposal. I've heard of strength in numbers, but not rank stupidity in numbers.My gosh. That's an hour and some change I'll never get back. Do yourself a favor. Stay away from this stinker!

Many would have you believe that the slasher genre is dead, they'll tell you that if it weren't for Scream (1996) that it would have died a lot earlier.I partially agree, it has been struggling for many years but occasionally something comes along that renews your faith in it. To an extent this is such a film.With a real retro feel this is a paint by numbers slasher but written by someone who decided to colour blind it's viewers. What I mean by that is the film is outstandingly unpredictable and rarely goes the way you expect.8 youngsters steal a school bus and drive to a secluded area to party but when it breaks down they find themselves under attack from a psychotic cannibal who proceeds to pick them off one by one.The lack of originality damages it but the surprise writing, competent cast and delivery makes up for it.A good enough watch for slasher fans.The Good: Couple of genuine surprises Some decent writing Real old school feel Robert Patrick Truly unpredictable The Bad: Wesley's afro can't have been real? Right? Tad too dark Reel missing thing was dumbThings I Learnt From This Movie: I don't want to get eaten by a cannonball either! When the *sshole of the group has the right idea and nobody listens to him does that make the viewer an *sshole to for siding with him?

Not too bad 80s slasher homage with a wonderful Robert Patrick, cast in a supporting part as an uptight, military-vet Vice President. The formula doesn't stray in "Lost After Dark": high school teens flee the night dance for a trip to a cabin in a stolen school bus, running out of gas on some remote county road, soon encountering a bearded, cannibalistic psychopath with only one singular mission and that is to ruin their festivities through whatever weapon (whether it be in the barn or his ancestral home) is available to him. I think, if anything, "Lost After Dark" will perhaps be best known as a slasher that updates the pattern of who gets killed first (not what the 80s were known for with their slashers). Typically the worst of the lot get the ax or knife at the onset, but this goes a totally different route: those that are quite likable and honorable seem to be the first to go while the more cowardly and self-serving last a while longer. Make no bones about it: few leave this film alive among the young cast. As with other films in the genre it has the kids scattering apart, seemingly *always* running *back* to the Joad house where he never fails (well, almost never) to take advantage of their folly, capitalizing on false moves and errors in judgment. Patrick sees the kids drive off in the bus and makes it an effort to find them, soon squaring off with the killer…and not faring well despite talking a big game in one of the more amusing points in the film. Most shocking scene could be when the diva stuck-up blond of the group is so worried about her well being she snaps the neck of her whimpering dog! Would Paris Hilton do that??? Nastiest murder sequence might be the corkscrew twisted through the back of the letterman jacket jock as he tries to escape through a hall door where the confines are too tight with chains keeping exits unattainable. There's a barn—no surprise, right?—where some of the characters run *into* to hide (?!?!) with the expected pitchfork making its appearance once again impaling a victim. A car on a jack drops on a victim who decides to crawl underneath it (!) as the killer follows behind him. Memorable homage to Fulci's Zombie II has a victim pulled into a broken window where his eye is impaled on a piece of glass. Yep, the ax and animal ground trap surface (would you be disappointed if they didn't?) to disrupt efforts of either heroism or attempts to run away. Funniest scene could be where, as a group, they initially decide to confront the killer with weapons in hand, but as he draws closer to them, that idea changed in a hurry. There's a significant emphasis on the film's setting in the 80s, and those involved in the production go to great lengths to mimic clothes, mores, dialogue, etc. There's attempts to reflect age on film and even a "missing reel" tear midway as the killer is closing in on a victim caught in a bear trap. The dilapidated house on the hill, in ruins and rotting, makes for a fine place of doom where the fates of many will be snuffed out. There's always that one scene in the film that leaves me personally perplexed: one of the final teens has been able to get far away from the killer and even meets up with one of her pals who had been presumed dead only to stop and sit down beside a tree! I liked that this film didn't necessarily follow the rules of who lives and dies in the usual order, giving us a final girl I wasn't expecting. Those who made this know their slasher and make sure to feature the genre's usual suspects faithfully…which will certainly alienate those who aren't fans of the genre which this doesn't care to appeal to.

I've got to say, as someone who grew up in the 80's watching almost every horror movie that came out (BIIIG thank you to sharing a room with my sister, who was 7 years older...) when I saw that they were calling this an homage to those movies I was very leery. One hour in I decided to, after years of using IMDb, make an account just to review the movie!! From the cheesy cliché characters to the cliché plot line.. Totally brought me back to those awful movies my sister would force me to watch growing up. The only thing I didn't really like was the overly played 'Nam vet (yes, also an awesome cliché!!!) Mr.C played by the sadly underused Robert Patrick! All in all, actually not to bad of a movie