Excuse me if I wax sentimental for a few. 

Yeah, I know that's weird. This is a review for a badass monster flick. What in the hell does sentimentality have to do with anything? 

It does. It really does. 

About the time that I was set to immerse myself in the latest indie horror universe created by J. Horton, my own world imploded a bit as my just turned 81-year-old father ended up in ICU followed by quick decisions to begin hospice care. It would be less than three weeks after beginning hospice that my father, my last surviving immediate relative, would pass away on the couch that he loved in the home that he loved. 

I haven't done much right as a son. My father and I clashed, at times fiercely. Over the years, our tensions quieted and we arrived at a place of quiet respect as he began to realize I possessed an awful lot of his traits and I began to realize I really was my father's son. I've spent the last three weeks or so, clearing out his home and addressing his modest yet precious estate needs. As an adult with spina bifida, I'd long been expected to be the first in the family to go. 

Instead, I am now its lone survivor. Sounds like it came right out of a J. Horton film. 

On the very day that I finally arrived at a place where I could slow down a bit and immerse myself in J. Horton's world created in A Hard Place, word arrived that indie icon Michael Mahal, scheduled to work alongside Horton on his next flick The Apex Predators Club and a beloved figure in the indie film community, had passed away at a far too young age. While my own interactions with Mahal had been minimal, they'd been enough to appreciate the gravity of this loss for this community I've grown to love as the Mahals (Michael and Sonny) have long been recognized as creative, generous, and passionate when it comes to indie films and those who make them. 

I swear I'm getting to the review. 

As someone who has, in essence, lost my family. I've come to deeply appreciate those who foster a sense of community and who excel along the way. 

This is, quite simply, J. Horton. I've followed J. Horton's films for years now. From traditional docs to faith-based flicks to badass monster flicks, J. Horton has become a name I trust whatever film and whatever genre. 

He's a good guy making good films with good people fostering a film community filled with both horror legends and up-and-comers. If you work on a J. Horton flick, you're a lucky soul. Or maybe a Guardian. Or maybe a Caretaker. Or maybe a Criminal. 

Scheduled for a streaming release on May 27th, A Hard Place had its fun on the indie fest circuit and in a limited release through the drive-in theatre scene. It's a film ideally suited to drive-ins and dives and isolated farmhouses. 

The film is centered around a gang of six criminals trying to lay low after a heist gone awry. However, life on the lam ain't a breeze and instead of hiding away they arrive smack dab into a pending war between the Guardians and the Caretakers. 

A Hard Place, which Horton has referred to as his big swing (at least until The Apex Predators Club shows up), kicks off with the glorious Bai Ling (The Crow, Nixon) in a scene best left undescribed. We get a sense of what's going on and we meet volatile gang of criminals including the inspired Lynn Lowry as Zenia. It's Zenia who moves the plot along and gets us to the isolated Ohio farmhouse where the majority of A Hard Place unfolds. 

We're going to continue to meet the main players in this uncommonly large ensemble including Ashley Undercuffler's mysterious Naja, Jennifer Michelle Stone's mesmerizing Candy, and the always impressive Felissa Rose's unhinged wonderland known as Henrietta. I was also quite taken by Rachel Amanda Bryant's Fish and, I must say, Scott Alan Ward's turn as White is one of his best efforts yet. 

I could keep going. Oh heck, I will keep going. Glenn Plummer kicks it as Dutton, Sadie Katz is memorable as Barbara, and in a far too brief turn Angel Nichole Bradford is awesome as Odie. As you might guess, the entire ensemble really does impress here. 

The script by Horton with Michael J. Epstein is one of those slow-burners, an unfolding work of horror wizardry with dialogue that may not seem to make sense until it all comes together and actually does make sense. It's a little less unhinged than Horton's last flick Craving, however, it's equally impressive in its own special ways. 

I'll give you just a brief glimpse into the soul of the film with the Guardians being these magnificently realized plant creatures going toe-to-toe, or maybe I should say stump-to-stump, with a group of locals known as The Caretakers. It's clear they don't get along. It'll soon be clear how much they don't get along. 

Horton is a longtime collaborator with Bravo FX and it's a collaboration that continues to pay off bigtime. Robert Bravo is a master who never disappoints and his work is complemented by Kody Newton's take a bath in this badness lensing and Catherine Capozzi's atmospheric original score. Editing by Brook Hubbs also masterfully amplifies the film's chills, thrills, glimpses of dark humor, and even emotional resonance. 

There's a razor-thin emotional thread that radiates throughout A Hard Place, not so much to add substance to the storytelling as to give us people and not just caricatures. There's an appropriate earthiness to The Guardians, a familiar sense of instability with The Caretakers, and an indie horror film that ultimately begs to be seen. 

If A Hard Place is J. Horton's big swing, it's safe to say he hits it out of the farmhouse. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic