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Cast: Kurt Angle, S. William Hinzman, Kevin Nash, Sid Eudy, Bill Laing, Alan Rowe Kelly
Thirty years ago, the residents of a small town exacted brutal "justice" on the Jacobs boys, sending them to a watery grave. Now, a series of gruesome murders suggest that the brothers have risen from the dead to seek bloody revenge.
Wow, wrestlers acting go figure. I recently seen a few comments on a message board about "River of Darkness" and the fact that the main three names at the top of the poster were Kurt Angle, Rick Nash and Sid Vicious. I couldn't help but think, isn't that a wrestler's job for the most part anyway? Granted none will ever be accused of winning any awards but it is a major part of their livelihood so I was looking forward to checking this little Indie flick out. Like I hinted to above, I knew what I was getting into here so I went into it not expecting a big Hollywood production which is something I suggest everyone to do. "River of Darkness" was produced by a local production company around Pittsburgh called, North Shore Pictures LLC. They have worked with Angle before in the film, "End Game" and he will also be appearing in their next film which should be out sometime in the near future. One thing that needs to be taken into consideration here is that this is a very low budget film, knowing that I thought the production values were pretty good especially the night scenes. The film isn't what I would call scary but it does contain a few good kills along the way and the make-up effect were pretty good, again taking the budget here into consideration. The acting in the film was what I expected and it varied from about average to bad, Kurt Angle plays the main character here and he isn't the best actor by any means but I thought he did a fairly good job but I also felt that if he didn't take role so serious he could of come across a bit better. Nash and Vicious both play important characters but are limited in screen time and with the make-up on you could easily miss them if you didn't know they were in the film. I pride myself in supporting Independent cinema and I had a good time watching "River of Darkness" but the question is, is it a good movie? I can't say its all that good but I enjoyed it for what it was and I felt the story was at least interesting enough to keep me watching it so it could of been better but could of been a lot worse too.
Over-all I have to give the Director and everyone else involved some praise for making the film, I know it can't be easy making such a film on a low budget. Hopefully as time goes by this very promising production company can afford to have a little higher budget for their films which I believe will make a huge difference but the only way their going to be able to do that is by having the support from people like you that are willing to go out and see their movies and buy them when they come to DVD. Personally I look forward to seeing what they produce next but in the meantime I can at least suggest this one to die-hard wrestling fans and those that enjoy watching Indie horror. You can order the DVD HERE.
Released by Green Apple Entertainment
** 1/4 Out Of *****