Community Service - The Movie (2012)

(Online Screener Copy)

Directed by Joseph Kelly

Written by Joseph Lewis and David Berry

Stars: Christopher Woods, William Meyer, Joseph Kelly, Iliana Garcia, Caitlyn Kenyon, Hope Tomaselli, Renell Edwards, Marissa Mynter, Daniel Trinh, Tristan MacAvery, Joseph Thomson, Christopher Mele, Amy Downs.

Big thank you to film maker Joe Kelly for being kind enough to share his indie slasher flick Community Service with me! I am loving the recent spate (Raymond Did It anyone?) of indie horrors which appear to pay direct homage to some of the more obscure revenge slashers of the 80s such as Offerings and for me, Community Service does a great job in achieving this.

The plot of the film kicks off in the past where a young lonely boy, Billy, is accosted by a pair of mean kids who have been making his life a misery at school. The young lads go a step too far when they attempt to destroy something very close to Billy's heart causing him to snap and lose his temper. In a fit of rage Billy attacks and kills one of the bullies much to the horror of a number of onlookers.

20 years later Billy is in the nut house and not showing any sign of improvement on his anger issues, meanwhile the surviving bully, Bob, has become a local police officer. 'Officer Bob' has the thankless task of running a community service programme at a nearby camp ground which very unfortunately is situated close to the psychiatric ward that has become Billy's home.

Being a slasher flick, it goes without saying that Officer Bob and his young charges, all on the programme for various petty crimes, are in big trouble. Billy has made his escape following learning of Bobs position and whereabouts and he wants to finish what he started 20 years ago...no matter who else he has to kill along the way.

I really enjoyed this short but sweet slasher. It has all your required ingredients to make a successful body count movie: incident from the past rearing its ugly head, psychotic child growing up to be an even more psychotic adult, a motely group of teenagers with differing personalities and traits, and a number of good kills. My only real complaint about the movie was a scene involving a mother and child which I just found to be a bit unnecessary.

I also think the film turned out some fine performances. Most of the teens did a good job particularly Iliana Garcia and Caitlyn Kenyon and I also enjoyed Christopher Woods portrayal of Officer Bob.

I think Joe Kelly hit the nail on the head with Community Service its obvious he knows he slasher fare and used his knowledge to create a fun, well paced, often funny, at many times gory, horror film. I am extremely interested to know what Joe might be working on next and I will also be first in line to check it out. Head on over to the official Community Service: The Movie website to find out more about the film and show your support by grabbing a copy as soon as its released!