Axe to Grind (2015)

   

Produced & Directed by: Matt Zettell

Written by: Scott C. Sanford

Starring:

Debbie Rochon .... Debbie Wilkins
Matt Gulbranson .... Peter Burgess
Guy Torry .... Eddie Wilcox
Paula Labaredas .... Delilah Finn
Michelle Tomlinson .... Cheryl
Adrian Quihuis .... Norman
Tony von Halle .... Lance
Dani Thompson .... Nikki


Release Date:
Direct-to-DVD: February 3, 2015

 

Rating:

 

B-film star Debbie Wilkins (Debbie Rochon) realised that her boyfriend Peter Burgess (Matt Gulbranson) has been cheating on her with other actresses as well as being rejected from his new film so she takes revenge.

 

When I started to watching the film I knew I was in for a bad flick in which it show a prologue with an amateurishly made grindhouse showing a teenage girl making out with her lover which looked unnatural along with discovering her slaughtered parents as this was supposed to come of as a horror mysterious feel to everything but misses by a longshot since the moments were badly done.
Then there's a discussion with Debbie Wilkins towards her boyfriend filmmaker Peter Burgess in which there's inner voices with her that are saying deadly things which drew my attention even if the setting looked roughly done.
Eventually the cast and crew meet at a grungy closed down hospital with some focused moments on the everyone as well as someone showing Debbie some axes as props in which this leaves an impression that she will use these objects on everyone which is not a good feeling at all.
Nice touches to the story when Debbie is about to get some drinks and drugs Peter's so he is unconcious which makes out some more horror touches on what she plans to do with him by having him tied up and nearly torturing him to get some answers all the way through the story which looked almost strong but it does get tiresome.
There's a scene when the filmmakers are partying as well as acting kinky with other stuff while someone watching on the surveillance cameras are spotting this but this looked weakly inspired.
Debbie makes things uneasy for her fellow cast members as this looked quite strong making an impression that she will murder them and boy do the killings look strong as this demented chick goes wild killing them with an axe in a Lizzie Borden type of style. This should please slasher fans even if the story sucks.
Filming starts to happen as the cast of women begin to perform in which they are terrible while doing all of this but the director loved their work which was supposed to make people chuckle while watching this scene unfold but the humor is extremely dry.
Of course there's more killings with Debbie action vicious while others try to fight for their lives as some of this looked strong and other times lacked greatly.
However there's a suspenseful situation with Cheryl tied up and gagged by Norman as he leaves to sharpen up some axe's while she slowly finds a way of untying herself as this kept me watching and wondering if she will get away before he comes back.
During the near conclusion the story involves one of the last victims along with Peter being involved offering a new twist which added another nice dark horror feel I must admit.
Bottom line is that this film stinks and was confusing to watch along with a cheap but not awful budget. Nothing special to watch at all and quite a bore too. Skip this one.

The performances are in mediocre shape but Debbie Rochon (Debbie Wilkins) delivered very well in her role as she really brought out a great obnoxious and demented attitude as well as acting tough as nails. Shows a terrific sneering reaction towards others. Plus brought her energy to the extreme when being violent or deadly while thrusting her axe towards her victims. She was the best in the cast.
Matt Gulbranson (Peter Burgess) stood out well with his calm and decent like attitude in which he focused well into whatever he did throughout his role. Seemed to get into his characteristics pretty good. Had the right clean cut middle aged looks and appeal too.
Guy Torry (Eddie Wilcox) was fair in his role as a director in which he seemed to offer some mediocre spunk and energy into his part. He tries to be funny but doesn't seem to have the timing in order to be convincing like that. Seemed to show off some nice challenging aggressions though near the end of his role.
Paula Labaredas (Delilah Finn) seemed to breeze through well with her diva type of attitude which looked fairly convincing by what she did here. Had the looks and appeal for this type of role but when she freaks out running away and screaming she looked amateurish.
Michelle Tomlinson (Cheryl) offered the nice sharp behavior as well as coming across with her outgoing behavior nicely. Shows off her nice intelligent type of personality and being slick in what she did. She showed off great energy. One of the best in the cast.
Adrian Quihuis (Norman) did an okay job with his eccentric and crazed attitude as someone watching the surveillence camera's in which he comes across as someone dangerous and untrustworthy. He for sure had the most effective supporting role.

A woman flashes her breasts during an introduction segment of the story while swinging an axe.

Two parents are bloodily slaughtered in their home
Guy is battered and bloodied on a lawn
Many violent bloodsheds caused by an axe
Fingers chopped off
Hand is stabbed

Carl Dante composed the music for this film which I didn't find too great with the synthesizer whooshings along with other stuff which annoyed me while watching the story unravel. However it does eventually work into the story when the moments become incredibly dark especially with the hissings and some of the classical violin playing with the echo effects. So he seems to put some stuff together at an even pace.