EASTER BUNNY MASSACRE

EASTER BUNNY MASSACRE (aka Easter Killing/2021). Director: Jack Peter Mundy. NOTE: Not to be confused with Easter Bunny Massacre: The Bloody Trail.  

A group of high school friends on a camping trip over Easter have to deal with the antics of "bad girl" Heather (Antonia Whillans), who is stabbed to death by someone wearing a weird rabbit mask. (Somehow blood spatter gets all over virtually the entire cast, something which is never explained). The rest of the group -- Neil (Tom Nyugen), Carl (Michael Hoad), Amy (May Kelly), Tom (Genna Lostkutnikov), and Jane (Sarah T. Cohen) -- decide to hide Heather's body and cover up the murder because it might prevent them from going to "Uni" (college) or something along those lines. A year later these people -- all of whom look like they are several years out of college let alone high school -- receive invitations to an isolated cabin from -- you guessed it -- Heather. Strangely, they all show up -- along with Amy's brother, Marty (Lee Hancock) and Neil's girlfriend, Maria (Beatrice Fletcher), who wants to know what the hell is going on. Then someone wearing a bunny fright mask starts stalking all of them ... 

Michael Hoad as Carl

While the plot is workable. the direction and editing of the film is off the mark. The characters are probably better developed than in other films of this nature, but the slow pacing may have you searching for the fast-forward function. There are also severe continuity problems, especially an attack scene that just seems to stop dead for no reason. The plot is an amalgam of I Know What You Did Last Summer with a solution that reminds one of the Scream movies, but Easter Bunny Massacre is in no way as entertaining or as slick as those movies. Surprisingly, the acting in this is uniformly good, better than the script deserves. A particular stand out is Michael Hoad as Carl, who has genuine screen presence. Antonia Whillans scores as the bitchy "tramp" who gets herself sliced, and May Kelly makes a positive impression as well. I must say that the furry bunny mask in which the murders are committed is much more creepy than you might imagine.

Verdict: Twisted British horror film with some points of interest but ultimately doesn't quite, ahem, cut it. **1/4.