A gleeful return to "backwoods horror" is in full swing with the recent theatrical releases of Wrong Turn, House of 1000 Corpses, Anchor Bay's upcoming 2-disc DVD release of The Hills Have Eyes and Sub Rosa Extreme's recent indie flick The Undertow. The talented group behind The Undertow (Wicked Pixel Cinema) are also responsible for a host of other indie flicks that truly do deserve your attention including the likes of Scrapbook (review here) and Savage Harvest (review here). Longtime Wicked Pixel producer and director of The Christmas Season Massacre (review here) Jeremy Wallace is a triple threat this time around as Writer, Director and Composer of The Undertow, now available as a special edition DVD from Sub Rosa Extreme.

6 friends, driving though the rural mid west are on their way to have some fun in the sun, but unfortunately their trip is about to be abruptly cut short. Things start out innocently enough as they taunt one another with stories of a local legend about "The Boy" an inbred, mindless murdering machine eager to take down any outsiders that cross his path. They're eventually pulled over and hassled by "the law" as well as given a hard time at the local gas station ("These things don't take cards!" one of them remarks about the vintage gas pumps and the lack of a credit card slot). They hit the woods and hop in their canoes with their camping gear, naively unaware of the fact that their every move is carefully being monitored.

Turns out that "The Boy" is indeed very real, he's the mayor's son and he's kept in a dank room constantly berated, abused and taught to take orders. "The Boy's" sister Billie (cute as a button Trudy Bequette) is fully aware of what's been going on (as is everyone else in town) and realizes now more than ever just how wrong it really is. She tries to warn the group of the impending danger, but they don't heed said warning and wake up the next morning to find one of their friends with a crushed head. The group of 6 is now 5, but there's another problem at hand as well. "The Boy" not only murdered the outsider, he's also murdered a local resident as well, and now not even those who created this monster can seem to control him. What follows is a fight for survival as the outsiders try to make it home in one piece while the locals try to make sense out of a monstrous creation gone wrong. One thing's evident though, no one is safe from "The Boy" and no matter who you are, if you cross his path - your fate is most certainly sealed.

The Undertow is a wonderfully crafted homage to the sleazy 70's horror/exploitation flicks of yesteryear. Seemingly crafted by a group of true fans of the genre, it's evident that they made the type of horror flick that they would want to watch, not what they think other people would want to watch. While the actual story may not be all too original, it's the execution that's the true icing on the cake here. Like a stack of building blocks laid on top of one another, there's an increasingly unnerving level of impending doom that takes over. Once "The Boy" begins his attacks (and they are pretty BRUTAL) we don't know who to be mad at or who to feel sorry for. Is "The Boy" to blame for his acts or should we direct our anger towards those who conditioned him? The fact that the locals are under siege at the same time as the outsiders creates an interesting parallel and once those who are responsible for "creating" the boy are extinguished, the viewer is left with feelings of hopelessness for the few remaining survivors and any chances they may have had.

It's a solid 40-minutes or so into the flick before there's even any violence (an extremely brave move on the filmmakers part), yet the 80-minute running time zips by with such a great force. There really is no shortage of the red stuff with multiple head crushings, gouging and intestine pulling (that's just for starters). While the gore is always a plus in an instance like this, it's also nice to note that the film still works well (and stands on its own) even without all of the innards spillage. Stylistically, Wallace makes excellent use of his locations (love all of those outdoor overhead establishing shots). There's also creative use of colors to really bring home the feel of a 70's grind house flick (along with some strategically punched up colors - you'll know what I mean when you see it) and some excellent underwater photography. The Undertow is a flick that aesthetically manages to far exceed its micro budget. To say that Jeremy Wallace has grown as a director since The Christmas Season Massacre would be a gross understatement - here he truly allows his filmmaking talents to shine.

While performances are all above average (you'll see some familiar Wicked Pixel faces as well, including Emily Haack, Jason Christ, Julie Farrar, Robin Garrels et al), I wish there could have been more time establishing these characters individually, rather than as a group. I didn't even know the proper names of a few of them until the end credits rolled. Special effects are all convincing, we just linger on a few of the "after the fact" corpses for a bit too long in some instances. Performance wise, special mention has to go out to Trudy Bequette as "The Boy's" sister Billie, for a truly inspired performance (the scene at the dinner table was especially impressive) as well as for being cute as a button. First time performer Doc Brown as "The Boy" has to be mentioned as well. Although he wears a sack on his head (with one eye visible which screams F13 Part 2) for nearly the entire running time and never says a distinguishable word, he's a menacing force - a feat that's not easy to pull off. Julie Farrar has scream queen potential written all over her, as her shift towards the end of the flick is quite impressive and she even looks mighty fine all caked in blood as well. Not to give too much away here folks, but we may have a possible franchise on our hands (which might not necessarily be a bad thing in this instance).

Audio and Video quality are definitely above average. The full frame presentation looks simply flawless with no evidence of artifacting. While audio is featured in a stereo surround track most of the sound is present in the front field. Dialogue is clear, there really weren't any mic problems to speak of.

Extras are plentiful and include a behind-the-scenes featurette, blooper reel, deleted scenes, still gallery and preview trailers for The Undertow as well as additional Sub Rosa features. Folks, I'm NOT blowing smoke up yer ass here (although that does sound like jolly good fun). The Undertow is in a class all it's own, certainly an example of indie filmmaking done right and easily one of the best indie genre efforts of the year. In a world of teen friendly, laugh in your face SCREAM rip-offs (and some cheap, crappy SOV efforts), it's nice to see someone returning to the true roots of horror and on such a small budget to boot. Highly recommended.

For more info visit Wicked Pixel Cinema and b-movie.com.