MUNGER ROAD hits DVD and VOD

MUNGER ROAD

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Coming to DVD and VOD this Tuesday from writer/director Nicholas Smith, Insomnia Productions and Freestyle Digital Media comes a thriller like no other when you travel to MUNGER ROAD.

This film tells the story of a small mid-Western town of St. Charles, Illinois readying itself for the annual Scarecrow Festival. What the town doesn’t know is that the Chief of Police Kirkhoven (Bruce Davison) has just been notified that a child murderer from the towns past is on the loose.

Putting his fears into high gear, Chief Kirkhoven takes Deputy Hendricks (Randall Batinkoff) through the town looking for hints that the murderer is near. What he doesn’t know is that four teens are out on the fabled Munger Road.

Corey (Trevor Morgan) and his girlfriend Joe (Brooke Peoples) along with Scott (Hallock Beals) and his girlfriend Rachel (Lauren Storm), after a failed prank, are stuck on the road. It doesn’t take long before the scary stories of Munger Road they had been teasing each other with begin to show signs of reality.

One by one the teens face whatever lurks as Joe runs for her life. The Chief and Deputy begin to unravel and discover the answer to secrets buried for a long time. But will it be in time to figure out what is actually taking place on Munger Road.

FINAL WORD: It is nice to see Davison again and as Chief of Police he knows more than he’s telling. From the moment he starts telling the story of Munger Road I kept thinking, ‘okay dude, what are you NOT saying!’ Batinkoff as Deputy Hendricks is eager to please his boss but after the first whack in the head is determined to find the killer.

Peoples as Joe is the level head in a car of joking boyfriends and unsuspecting chain smoker. Morgan, Beals and Storm all put in believable performances because seriously, if a handprint showed up on my window I’d be outs!

This film is the bomb of scary films and let me tell you why. Not because there is loads of blood and guts, not because there is predictable spooky music and masked creatures or anything of the sort. This is what scary films are meant to be – testing the limits of your own imagination and freaking your own self out to the max.

MUNGER ROAD brings back the days of horror films where there is a story that is in no rush to be told, secrets, and who-done-its. There is a few ‘documentary’ portions using video camera but the fantastic part is, writer/director Smith didn’t rely on it to scare the audience or make them sick from ridiculous jerky and unnecessary camera shots.

Instead, Smith invited us into the car and we go willingly!

Other cast include: Art Fox as Mayor Swanson, Maggie Henry as Nancy, Bill J. Stevens as Father McCroy, Ron Johnston as Lenny, and Judy Proudfoot as Judy.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give MUNGER ROAD four tubs of popcorn out of five. I do this for two reasons – 1) because it has been such a long time since I yelled at the end of a film with ‘oh come onnnnnnn!’ and 2) because I have the fantastic feeling that the director of this film is not going to let me down!

I thoroughly enjoyed knowing there was an expression of puzzlement on my face the entire film because that tells me there was no way to not to pay attention. That is another sign of a very cool horror film. This needs to be in everyone’s horror film collection while waiting for what comes next!

In the end – what is the truth about Munger Road?