Review by Quin
The title tells you all you really need to know about the story. There is a guy with an axe and he’s terrorizing Henderson County. Following a murder, the police are brought in to investigate. More murders follow. The Axeman of Henderson County, directed by Larry Parmiter and written by his wife Cindy Parmiter, is a microbudget film shot in Belpre, Ohio. This detail made me take notice, because my favorite Stephen Soderbergh film Bubble was shot there as well, and it used residents of the area as actors in the film. I want to focus on The Axeman of Henderson County for this review, but I need to use Bubble to illustrate the things that work and don’t work about Axeman. One thing is certain, the film is far from perfect, but it’s not without its charms and interesting details that are at times surprising and creative.
There is no reason to be mean to the filmmakers of a movie like The Axeman of Henderson County. I would imagine they realize that they haven’t made the next horror classic. I would even say it’s admirable that they have made something that is coherent and easy to follow. But the fact that this film is made on an extremely low budget that the filmmakers have financed themselves carries no weight on some of the glaring mistakes made. For instance, there are two opening credit sequences. Immediately following the first one, there is a long tracking POV shot done from a moving car, looking around at mostly trailers and yards. This would have been a great place to insert the rest of the credits, but what follows is a black and white sequence where a young kid witnesses his mother fighting with a man. As the fighting escalates, the man blows his brains out with a hand gun. There is a cool effect here where the blood is in color while the rest of the shot is in black and white to indicate that it’s a flashback.
Keep in mind, the second credit sequence hasn’t happened yet – we see a ski masked man creeping around outside a record store. He kills the employees with an axe in another great effect with the blood. It’s dark and corn syrup-ish. It really drips and sprays but looks so good on film because of it’s stickiness – it doesn’t look too liquidy. Then comes the second opening credits. I haven’t noticed if they repeat or pick up where they left off, but it’s a really awkward place for this and the font used is amateurish and really makes me think the director doesn’t have an eye for what looks good. Then we get the dreaded line “Inspired by actual events. In association with Black T Productions.” That second part was really in there. The rest of the credits are badly misplaced, so why wouldn’t they throw that in? It baffled me. But it was also at this point where I decided to just go with it. I’m glad I did. If you are looking for something scary and original, you will only be disappointed and probably mad that you spent your time on this. But if you like old Herschell Gordon Lewis films where plot holes and bad acting abound, you will most likely get a kick out of The Axeman of Henderson County. Lewis was much better at making a polished looking film out of no budget, but the obvious cuts to accommodate visual effects and campy lines of dialogue might make this a lot of fun to watch with friends or in a crowded theater at a midnight screening. Since this is the Parmiter’s first film as a writer/director team, I expect they will figure out where they can improve and their next film will be better.
I mentioned that I wanted to use Soderbergh’s Bubble for comparison. I don’t expect any first time director to be Stephen Soderbergh, but given that he was instrumental in the independent film movement of the late 80’s and the fact that Bubble and The Axeman of Henderson County have so much in common; I think it’s a great way to show how little things can make a movie great and there doesn’t need to be a ton of money spent. Along with sharing the same location and utilizing non-famous and amateur actors, both films deal with murder and they are almost the exact same running length. Slightly over 70 minutes is not long for a film. Soderbergh uses his time to tell the story through conversations that seem simple and meaningless, but every word is crafted in a way that tells you exactly who these people are and why they do the things they do. In Axeman, we get all obvious dialogue that tells us what we already know. For instance, a cop is interviewing a woman who survived an encounter with the axeman: Cop: “Did you see his face?” Woman: “No. He had some ski mask over it or something.” This works on that campy level I mentioned before, I mean Cindy Parmiter is channeling Ed Wood with this stuff. But it ultimately wastes time that can be used in other, deeper ways. Some of her details are amazing though. I love that the killer smells like cherries and jazz music plays an important part. The Axeman of Henderson County could easily be the title of a biopic about an Ohio jazz musician.
Most of the actors in The Axeman of Henderson County have little experience. Given the budget, it’s safe to guess that it’s a mostly friends and family operation. Some of them have a long list of IMDb credits. Jeremy Ambler is likable as the goofy deputy, and he has actually played a walker in AMC’s The Walking Dead series. The guy who plays the coroner is surprisingly nuanced with his subtle quirkiness. But the standout performance in the film is by the hero police officer Rush Whitacre. He’s listed in the cast of the upcoming steampunk remake of the Bela Lugosi film White Zombie. The two biggest draws of the film are former NFL quarterback Major Harris and former WWF wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Neither are in the film a whole lot, but they do seem to be having a good time. The DVD screener I saw had outtakes after the end credits. Hopefully these will eventually be included as DVD extras, because they do have an endearing quality. And it’s fun to see Jim Duggan hamming it up and cracking himself up during filming.
If you like movies that are more of the so bad they’re good variety, which I definitely do, then an hour of your time isn’t really too much to give for this movie. But if you are easily distracted by poor production values and would rather be transported to another place when you watch a film, you might be better off skipping The Axeman. Or if you want a lesson on how to make a great movie out of almost nothing, watch this with Stephen Soderbergh’s Bubble. It will be the shortest double feature ever, but it should be crystal clear why some movies work and why some don’t.
Semi-Charmed Productions are releasing The Axeman of Henderson County on November 15th – learn more at their Facebook page.