The Last Horror Movie (2003) review

Director: Julian Richards
Starring: Kevin Howarth and Mark Stevenson
Run time: 80 minutes

For eleven years I have been searching for the horror film that my parents told me about when I was only ten – as they described the film to the prepubescent overweight and nerdy version of me, I was mesmerised and have spent the last eleven years pestering my Dad for the name of the movie. I had no prevail, until about a month ago. Research upon research led me to The Last Horror Movie, a hard-to-find British found footage movie, my journey and tired mind was put to rest.

Max Perry introduces us to this film, as he describes how what we’re watching isn’t actually the real film, but instead it’s his homemade snuff movie that’s been taped over the real thing. We go on to witness this charming and almost alluring character go about his daily job as a wedding cameraman – this film put me off ever having my wedding filmed – but at night he prefers to indulge himself in a little torture, messy murders and cannibalism – well, when you’ve got all that dead meat laying around, there’s no point in letting it go to waste…

I’m sure you can image my excitement and arousal at finally being able to watch this film that plagued my innocent mind, where Buffy staking a vampire was the most brutal and badass thing I’d seen. British films always manage to make me a sweat a little more, as being one myself; it makes it feel all the more real. The Last Horror Movie has a disturbing atmosphere, which is accompanied by some gruesome slaughters where some are seen slightly off screen, but the others provide some gag-reflex nightmares with mangled body parts.

Kevin Howarth plays Max so convincingly that I didn’t know whether or not I might genuinely have just put myself in danger of being sliced and diced. Max uses his seductive and bewitching demeanour to lure us in with his clever philosophies by breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing us and questioning our motives behind continuing to watch a film that we’ve been informed is actually real. Fortunately I knew this film wasn’t real, but at the time when it came out, you could hire the video from Blockbusters, meaning those who watched it then might have thought this Ted Bundy-esque serial killer would be knocking at their door in the next hour.

Intelligent, bothersome and murderous, this film questions you, disturbs you and worries you to the point where you feel slightly endangered. It will most likely seem un-original now as the found footage genre has become huge, but forget that and go watch something that supplies realism on a very tight budget.

Verdict: 5 out of 5