Trailer Park of Terror

It’s hard to envision a more objectionable and flat-out interminable contemporary horror effort than Trailer Park of Terror, as the film boasts many of the attributes that one has come to dread from the genre as of late – including uniformly unpleasant and unlikable characters, ill-conceived attempts at humor, and an overall atmosphere of grungy seediness. Based on an ongoing comic-book series, the film opens with a hopelessly protracted sequence in which a trailer-trash bimbo (Nichole Hiltz’s Norma) seeks revenge on her dim-witted neighbors for the death of her boyfriend. Some time later, a group of troubled high schoolers, along with their chaperone (Matthew Del Negro’s Pastor Lewis), reluctantly take solace at the eponymous locale after running into car trouble and subsequently find themselves terrorized by Norma and her legion of undead (and bloodthirsty) followers. Director Steven Goldmann has populated Trailer Park of Terror with some of the most eye-rollingly stereotypical figures that one could possibly imagine, with the villains coming off as clichéd rednecks and their teenaged victims falling into easily-recognizable categories (eg the Goth, the Slut, the Douchebag, etc, etc). It goes without saying that Timothy Dolan’s unusually incompetent screenplay only exacerbates the film’s various problems, as the scripter’s obstinate refusal to offer up any interesting or innovative elements will test the patience of even the most open-minded horror buff. The painfully drawn-out third act, in which the demonic antagonists toy and torture their hapless quarry, is compounded by an increased emphasis on an almost immeasurably irritating rock-‘n-roll score, and it’s ultimately impossible to refer to Trailer Park of Terror as anything other than a bottom-of-the-barrel endeavor.

1/2* out of ****