Compound Fracture 2013 - REVIEW

I had the pleasure of attending Texas Frightmare Weekend for the fourth year in a row. It's probably one of the best conventions I've been to. Not only is it very well managed but it's local which means once a year our little (read big) family of horror lovers get to reunite and hang out and have a great time. For me, it's becoming less and less about the guests and more about being with friends. This year we decided to get an early start and headed up on Thursday, which gave us the opportunity to go to the Compound Fracture screening at The Texas Theatre. Stars Tyler Mane and Renae Geerlings were on hand signing posters and posing on the red carpet with fans. It was really a great time.

Michael (Mane) left home when he was a teenager and never looked back. Now, after the death of his sister, Chloe (Susan Angelo), he's returning home with his fiancee Juliette (Geerlings) and his angst ridden nephew Brandon (Alex Saxon). On arrival, they realize that home isn't exactly what it used to be. With high walls surrounding the house and security cameras in every nook and cranny it's more of a military compound than anything else. Enter Gary (Muse Watson), Michael's estranged father who, while happy to be reunited with his son and grandson, seems more than distracted by other things. As the strange family reunion commences, an uninvited guest shows up and we learn bits and pieces about the real reason behind Chloe's death and why Brandon is so closed off from Michael. This fractured family will have to come together to fight the ghosts from their pasts and make it out alive.

I could talk about this cast all day long and I still wouldn't be able to express how phenomenal they were in this film. To have four iconic serial killers on one screen is more than epic casting. Mane, better known as the sadistic Michael Myers in Rob Zombie's Halloween films, shows us a softer side in Compound Fracture and delivers a performance that enables horror fans to see what an amazing actor he truly is. He brought depth and believability to family man Michael. Derek Mears, AKA Jason in Friday the 13th, returns to his roots as a tormented evil spirit determined to exact revenge on the Wolffsen clan. As we all know, Mears knows how to do tormented, twisted and evil and he knows how to do it well. Watson shows that his talents go way beyond just stalking teenagers in I Know What you Did Last Summer. His portrayal of the a father with a rapidly diminishing mind struggling to make everyone believe he's still lucid is both touching and impressive. Let's not forget Mother Firefly herself Leslie Easterbrook who does a complete 180° with this character. She's soft and sweet and meager in Gary's shadow but also his rock during the bad spells. Her life in turmoil, she wants nothing more than to keep her family together and she plays it to perfection. Geerlings and Saxon also give stellar performances as the two clueless newcomers. One longs to be part of the family and the other just wants to get away. With this cast of characters, it can only be amazing.

Where most films of this type fall apart is where Compound Fracture flourishes. Writers Mane and Geerlings made sure they had strong, solid characters that their audience would care about. As each layer of the film is peeled back, the viewer is drawn deeper and deeper into the story itself. Director Anthony J. Rickert-Epstein also does a great job propelling the story forward at the right moments. In the end, Compound Fracture comes together nicely and ends up being an impressive supernatural tale. This being the first production from Mane Entertainment, I see nothing but grand things in their future.