I can't decide what scale to judge "Inbred", a 2011, low budget British horror/comedy, against. It's certainly an impressive piece of work, for the budget but, could I honestly say that I enjoyed it, or would want to watch it again? Not really.
Four young offenders, mouthy Dwight (Chris Waller), fashion conscious Zeb (Terry Hayward), troubled Firestarter Tim (James Burrows) and near mute Sam (Nadine Mulkerrin) are taken for an outward-bound experience in the remote Yorkshire village of Mortlake. Along with their caseworkers, Kate (Jo Hartley) and Jeff (James Doherty), the group eventually fall foul of the locals, and the conflict escalates to become a nightmare of death and carnage.
So, as far as low budget films go that are some aspects of this one that are pretty appealing. From a technical standpoint, it's well shot. The wide panoramas showing the North Yorkshire Moors off manage to both look appealing and give a sense of the isolation that the group are faced with. The visual effects are really good too, both the practical ones and the CGI blends are really well done. There's an inventiveness to some of the slaughter as horses and a slurry pipe are put to use, alongside the chainsaws, shotguns and hatchets that you might have anticipated.
That said, the characters aren't particularly interesting - particularly our four lead youngsters. None of the actors do anything particularly bad, it's more in how they are written, James Doherty falls into that cliché too, with his fastidious turn as their trip organiser. There are cameos from Mat Fraser and Dominic Brunt. The films real problem though is pace, with next to nothing happening for the first 45 minutes, followed by a sudden shift up the scale to madness and then the rest of the film plays out much as you might anticipate.
Despite its moments of wild abandon, and the impressive effects, ultimately the film struggled to hold my attention.
