Easter Bunny Massacre, or Easter Killing, is the latest in a line of low quality British horror films produced by Scott Jeffrey’s Jagged Edge Productions. This time we are decidedly within the US market with a film that is basically an odd hybrid of I Know What You Did Last Summer but with a dude in a bunny suit as the killer instead of the 90s slasher’s cloak wearing lunatic.
Scott Jeffery’s is, by now, famously known for the poor craftsmanship in his movies. He is also equally known for squeezing the utmost value from his budget. And that’s the case here as well. Although, I will give credit to the genre, you can shoot a slasher movie without spending anything and, as long as you follow the formula and shoot it correctly, you will definitely be successful. This could not be more true for Easter Bunny Massacre.
The movie tracks a bunch of teenagers off to ‘college’ cue deep suss here as their outward looks suggest the stereotypically American version aka University in the UK, Again, this shows the film looks like its been made directly for the US market, and there is no attempt to soft-sell it* who are celebrating and partying in the woods – drinking and getting high when – next morning, one of them, Heather (played by Jeffrey’s regular Antonia Whillans), wakes up dead. Each of the group members decide to get rid off the evidence, the body and a few years their later, they all receive invites to an Easter party which they all decide to attend. Big mistake.
Sure, we find ourselves in typical slasher film territory with Easter Bunny Massacre, this time with a bit of mystery Agatha Christie-style, like in Ten Little Indians (a story that is often used in a lot of genre films too). And that mystery angle works great here. Everyone who seems to have had a hand in Heather’s death appears to have a completely different version of the events surrounding it. We know that one of the group killed Heather and we know that one of the group is undoubtedly the killer here too. It’s just a matter of discovering who.
The final twist does not hold up. There is an unbelievable backstory concerning Heather that depicts her as a total bi***. Personally, I believe she deserves to be kicked. Heather obtained her fair share of punishment, but you sympathize with her when you look at everything that is happening from a broad angle. If it was not for the fact the killer ended up killing more people, I would have felt sympathy for them. But alas.
As effective as some Scott Jeffrey’s productions are, (and yes, some of them are much more than just horror films so look at The Curse of Humpty Dumpty for example) Easter Bunny Massacre does exactly everything I know the filmmakers were attempting to do. As far as slasher films go, it’s one of those classics that you are sure to remember for Halloween. Amongst the stereotypes and cliches of the genre, Easter Bunny Massacre provides some gems…However it misses emotional resonance like a few others.
There is one for example where they have a superb “shock” death scene where the impact is remarkable.
Easter Bunny Massacre does not comply with the stereotypes of a slasher movie which makes it unpredictable. To top it all off, its introduction is placed in a tranquil scene making it very unexpected. It is hard to be astonished by a slasher movie nowadays. Still, unlike the others, Easter Bunny Massacre has more cosmetic twists to unveil.
DOP Robin Keane and director Jack Peter Mundy certainly have an eye for the dramatic with the film’s composition, especially with Sarah T Cohen’s beautifully shot scene where she hides behind a tree while the killer shines a light around looking for her. The white dress that Cohen is wearing helps her stand out from the foliage and beautifully frames her on the bottom right of the screen. That style truly shows in the final moments of the film, when the killer gets his punishment in an almost crucifixion like scene in the foggy back-lit forest.
I have said it before, and I am sure I will say it again, but there is always something interesting to the films Scott Jeffrey produces if you can overlook the low budget. I wish more fans of this genre would be willing to give his work a fair chance.
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