By David Dent
As a director Marcel Walz has enjoyed a bit of a patchy career, with projects including an ill advised remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast (2016) and 2019’s Blind, one of the most derided entries in that year’s FrightFest.
For his third feature of 2025, Brute 1976 (a title which serves to describe both the tone of the film and the year in which it’s set), Walz produces a thematic nod to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes via the films of Rob Zombie.
As mentioned, we’re in 1976 USA – Bicentennial year – and a group of young beautiful people are headed out into the desert on a photo shoot, the subjects being two young models. In keeping with the Bicentennial spirit of unity, one, Roxy (Andrea McLean) is black and the other, Sunshine (Sarah French) white; the latter has been roped in as the original model, Raquel, failed to show.
We know from the prologue that Raquel and her girlfriend had previously been in the same place and had discovered a ghost town called Savage. The place is far from unoccupied though, now being home to a group of masked psychopaths who prey on the two girls. And it’s not long before Roxy, Sunshine and the rest also encounter the town; and the crazed occupants.
If you’ve not seen any of the aforementioned movies which inspired Walz’s film, you may find something to like here. If you have, while there’s some fun recognising the direct references, you’re unlikely to get that excited. The ghost town with killers setup is pretty limited; there’s only so much stalking and wandering around you can put up with (and the film’s near 105 minute running time means there’s a lot), and attempts at character back story and motivation appear rather limp.
Perhaps the biggest issue is that, while Walz wants this to play like a grindhouse movie (and indeed all the elements are present and correct) it’s a scarily polite piece which has an almost apologetic approach to the gore and savagery, preserving a glossy sheen when a little more grunge would have made Brute 1976 (that title, honestly!) more watchable.
I understand that a sequel – ‘Brute 1986’ – is forthcoming. Let’s hope some of these things get fixed in the follow up.
Bloody Flicks 