Written and directed by J. Horton, co-written by Michael J. Epstein, in a snow-covered forest, a group of criminals find themselves caught in the middle of an ancient feud between the monsters that roam the day and the creatures that rule the night. Starring: Rachel Amanda Bryant, Kevin Caliber, Ashley Undercuffler, Jennifer Michelle Stone, Scott Alan Ward, Felissa Rose and Lynn Lowry.
Kicking things off with a film within the film sets things down a rocky path, hitting these very overt, loud notes and backed by overwhelmingly neon visuals is messy and it throws off the introduction to the characters. You can see what J. Horton and Michael J. Epstein were going for, throwing back to cinema of the past but it muddles the opening, making it distracting rather than creative. Unfortunately, it never really gets a chance to make much of an impression because it’s constantly throwing more things into the mix.
That’s really the key issue with A Hard Place, the idea to make a chaotic, old-school monster flick is a good one but the execution is entirely scattered. It feels like every few minutes they’re introducing new characters and while again, adding in a feud is a good one, there’s simply too much going on, while not a lot is actually happening. They lean a lot on a classic B-movie tone, there’s more than a hint of exploitation and a little slash and burn energy to the progression. It’s rushing itself so it can’t establish the characters and plot fully to give you something to invest in.
It also struggles visually, it’s a shame to see it rely on visual effects rather than practical, that could have given it an interesting edge. The effects aren’t strong work and take away from the suspense A Hard Place is trying to build. The more it leans towards that sci-fi aesthetic, it weakens itself, the horror element feels like it’s bigger strength. It misses the mark with its intensity, the tone and visual are quite flat for the most part, so it can’t build up the anticipation. As well as tending to throw in lines that feel as though they were pulled straight out of old movies, pushing it into disingenuous territory.
Again, with how many characters they’re shoehorning into A Hard Place, it’s tricky for any of the performances to really stand out. They mostly all feel on the same level, which provides a kind of consistency but not in a particularly helpful fashion. It needed a couple of characters to be given a true lead, to guide this story and provide them the space to create memorable personalities. Instead, what we get basically blends them all together
A Hard Place had a decent concept, feuding rednecks and monsters, it had the potential to be fun, but the execution falls short, although you can see the intention of the filmmakers of trying to create a drive-in type flick. The visual can’t quite find the right balance, it’s either too much or too little, the performances aren’t giving much to invest in as they’re hitting formulaic notes and the way the story plays out doesn’t have much to offer. The design of the monsters is good, but it would have been more satisfying to see it truly embrace that old school vibe and use more practical effects which could have added some charm. Ultimately, it’s forgettable, it feels too silly and not sinister enough, although it does add plenty of violence.
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