Review: An Hour to Kill
Cinematic shlock at its finest, An Hour to Kill blasts through the screen, assaulting your senses for the next 90 minutes. There’s enough sleaze packed into the timeframe to fill ten other films, and it doesn’t care how you feel about it. This is a film that was written in a dirty, hot motel room, decorated with only a torn bed and a cracked desk, with the only other sound besides a typewriter being that of the swirl of the dangling overhead fan. There’s not a modicum of decency to be found within the walls of An Hour to Kill, and for that, I can’t help but love it.
Hitman Gio (Aaron Guerrero) and rookie hitman Frankie (Frankie Pozos) are waiting around for their next job, scheduled for the next hour. To pass the time, the two decide to tell each other horror stories, as I imagine most hitmen do in real life.
Escaped Nazi’s are the name of the game in the first entry, “Valkyrie’s Bunker.” Five young women venture to an old bunker, only to run into those pesky Nazi’s, who hunt them down one by one. Of course, they are well aware of the rumors and danger before traveling, turning into a classic case of getting what you want. The second entry, “Assacre” revolves around a prank gone horribly wrong. After a stomach churning competitive eating contest, we’re introduced to a pepper that, according to myth, no one can handle due to its intensity. Upon eating it, one poor soul suffers the bloody consequences. The final segment, “Hog Hunters,” is the sheer, unapologetic insanity. Four bowlers head to a backwoods house to have a little fun. What they encounter is a hybrid of The Island of Dr. Moreau and Deliverance.
How you approach B-level horror will dictate how you respond to An Hour to Kill. The production value is appropriately rough, but it works in the film’s favor, adding a layer of unease to some of the sequences. The acting varies, with Frankie Pozos being the highlight. He brings a calculated, unhinged frenzy that is both scary and hilarious. He brings the level of energy this film requires, balancing that tone flawlessly.
I can’t recommend this to everyone; the audience for this is a very specific one. An Hour to Kill is midnight cheese through and through, and writer/director Aaron K. Carter revels in it. It demands to be seen with an audience, to have the screen yelled at, and to have the intoxicated audience cheering through every layer of grime.
