WFG RATING: A+

Cinephobia Releasing presents a KWF Films production. Directed by Marcel Walz. Produced by Joe Knetter, Marcel Walz, and Sarah French. Written by Joe Knetter. Cinematography by Marcus Friedlander. Edited by Samuel Gonzalez Jr.

Stars Adrienne McLean, Gigi Gustin, Sarah French, Dazelle Yvette, Adam Bucci, Bishop Stevens, Jed Rowen, Alex Dundas, Robert Felsted Jr., Bianca Jade Montalvo, and Mark Justice.

From the team who brought you That’s a Wrap and Garden of Eden comes this great horror film that can be the love child of The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

It’s August 19, 1976. Raquel and her friend June are supposed to meet up with a crew set to do a photo shoot. However, their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. They find a shanty town-like area called Savage and discover a mine in the area. However, Raquel and June soon find themselves falling prey to a mysterious man in a mask. Raquel is left to be kidnapped and taken hostage while June is discovered to have been brutally killed. 

Meanwhile, the photo shoot crew are unsure what to think when they realize Raquel goes missing. At the last minute, they decide to replace her with the shoot’s make-up artist, Sunshine. As the group find themselves in Savage, they are met by Mama Birdy, who tells them the history of the area and to be very careful. They soon learn that the town is run by a family of masked psychopaths and they must do what they can to survive and possibly find Raquel before it’s too late. 

You have to give it up for the team of Joe Knetter, Marcel Walz, and Sarah French. They really know their horror. When they teamed up for That’s a Wrap in 2023, it was homage to Italian giallo with meta horror. Their second film, Garden of Eden, looks to have vibes inspired by Hostel and Midsommar with a taste of Eyes Wide Shut. Now we have their third film, which looks to be The Hills Have Eyes meets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and once again, the team delivers the goods on all fronts. 

The one actor I can’t help feeling sympathy for is Gigi Gustin as she is one of those actresses whose characters in these films get a bad rep and always tend to pay for her actions. At the same time, she gives it her all when it comes to these roles and is definitely a 21st century “scream queen” with Sarah French showing why she is definitely one of the biggest horror queens over the past few years with her role of Sunshine. French is definitely aces in the role of the makeup artist turned model who finds herself and her friends evading the family of masked psychos who control the town and unleash all sorts of mayhem.

Kudos also must go out to Adrienne McLean as the tough Roxy, who only shows her soft side when it comes to one of the crew members as she has a thing for him. As for the masked psychos, Bishop Stevens’ Brutus is a beast of a man along with Andreas Robins’ Zeus. Jed Rowen’s Daisy really takes the cake as they hold Raquel prisoner and reveal themselves to show her June’s fate by doing the unthinkable.

Robert Kern III and his team worked on the kill scenes here and does a great job here. If you have seen KWF’s previous two films, then there is one particular limb destined to be obliterated and it happens here with something shocking and almost had me fall to the ground in agony as with the previous two films. There are nice nods to Chain Saw and Hills that will please the gorehounds and there is a shocking post-credit scene. There is also a sequel coming soon in the form of Brute 1986, which will mark the film debut of Tokio Hotel lead singer Bill Kaulitz. 

Brute 1976 is an amazing homage to two classic 1970s horror films with Gigi Gustin and Sarah French showing once again why they are destined to be this generation’s Queens of Horror and once again, Marcel Walz, Joe Knetter, and French deliver the goods with the kills and storylines that make this one of the best horror films of the year.

The film will be released in select theaters in August (see post from 8/18 with theaters and dates) with a Digital/VOD release set for September 30.