The Barn

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**_All-around entertaining trick or treat flick, but no meat on the bones_** On Halloween, 1989, some teens in southwest Pennsylvania make the mistake of entering a forbidden barn, which unleashes three diabolical creatures: a miner boogeyman, a pumpkin man and a scarecrow. "The Barn" (2016) only cost $80,000 and was a life-long dream project of producer/writer/director Justin M. Seaman. I’ve seen several such movies by Indie filmmakers shooting in their beloved local areas and you have to understandably brace yourself for the worst, like stilted acting, lousy sound, questionable editing, cheesy effects and unconvincing action sequences. Considering the limited budget, this scores proficiently in all the above with ‘B’ queen Linnea Quigley showing up for a one-day gig. It’s colorful and has a great rockin’ soundtrack by no-name artists. The key actors take a relatively serious approach while some of the peripherals ham it up in an amusing way, like Sam’s dad. Where it drops the ball is the writing. There’s not enough depth beyond the descriptive blurb above and so I found myself bored with the story and characters in the second half. A similar Indie production, “Angel” (2018), featured stilted acting and lousy action scenes, but it at least had an interesting story (and great cinematography and locations), which made it more rewarding even though “The Barn” is technically superior and delivers the goods for fun Halloween ambiance. Lexi Dripps (Michelle) and Nikki Howell (Nikki) are serviceable on the feminine front, but more shoulda been done with them. A body double was, incidentally, used for the latter’s brief top-nude scene. It runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in various areas of southwest Pennsylvania, including West Alexander (main location), Claysville (street scenes), Washington (roller rink) and Emsworth (Dr. Rock sequence). GRADE: C+

Despite the budgetary shortcomings of The Barn, director, and writer Justin M. Seaman offers a solid horror story with great traditional special effects and some badass final boys. A definite new Halloween favorite!