For fans of hyper-gore and slasher violence, Die’ced: Reloaded will be a good time, but it could have been so much more.
It’s not every day that a filmmaker gets to turn their short film into a feature. That means expanding on certain things and improving on what you’ve done before. In the case of Die’ced: Reloaded that means adding more kills, more thrills, and loads of blood. The film follows Cassandra on Halloween in 1987. She lives in Seattle and for her, it’s like any other teenage Halloween night. Get dressed up in a slightly skimpy outfit (but not too skimpy, she’s a final girl after all), have some drinks, talk to boys, etc. Well a wrinkle gets thrown into that plan when notorious killer Benny escapes an asylum and he has one person on his mind, Cassandra.
Die’ced: Reloaded takes inspiration from classic slashers like Halloween (what slasher doesn’t?) and more modern ones like Terrifier. It’s clear that those films inspired this one with the massive amount of bloodshed and the story. However, that doesn’t mean it’s straight up ripping those films off. Benny might be silent like Michael Myers, but he has his own personality that he shows off. Jason Brooks plays him and his experience as Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th fan films definitely gives him a leg up on other slasher villains of recent memory.
So without further ado, let’s jump into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Die’ced: Reloaded.
The Good Of Die’ced: Reloaded
Right from the get-go, Die’ced: Reloaded does not screw around. Benny brutally dispatches his doctor and a nurse in excruciating ways. I’ve never seen someone shove a crayon into someone’s ear canal, and I really don’t want to again after this film. That’s what the gore hounds are going to be here for. If you love gore and the modern style of slasher, this is going to satisfy every itch. Benny is a breath of fresh air in a stale market for slasher villains. The scarecrow outfit does look awesome on screen and it’s easy to see people latching onto this character.
Die’ced: Reloaded is set in 1987, so it naturally has a synth soundtrack that helps a lot with the film. The synth tracks here are awesome and keep the blood pumping all the way through its 1 hour 21 minute runtime.
Eden Campbell’s performance as Cassandra is one of the highlights of the film as well. She plays Cassandra as your typical teenage girl, but doesn’t overdo it in the final girl department. She still wants to hang out with her friends, wants to talk to boys, and go to the Halloween party. She’s just a regular teenage girl and that’s kind of refreshing to see as well. Once she has to get a bit physical and Benny comes around, that’s when her performance really shines.
Overall, this is a brisk slasher that has some kills that’ll make you wince and squirm in your seat.
The Bad And Ugly Of Die’ced: Reloaded
The film might bet set in 1987 and have music that sounds like it’s from that time period. But it doesn’t really look like that time period anywhere else in the film. It all looks like someone’s trying to emulate the 80s, without actually looking like films of that era. Everything looks a bit too clean, a bit too new, even down to the clothes, which are very clearly 80s-inspired. It’s like a reprint of a pair of Nike shoes from the 80s, yeah, it looks like it, but it’s too squeaky clean.
There’s a large portion of the film where it just sort of meanders between the kills. The times with Benny are awesome and worth the price of admission, but there’s just a bit too much that feels like it was added here to pad out the runtime. It’s in these moments where Die’ced: Reloaded lost me a bit. The familial dynamic between Cassandra and her dad and brother is just stunted. It feels like they’re reading dialogue instead of actually being a family.
The final thing that felt off about the film is that it rushes to the ending pretty quickly. Just when it feels like its kicking into gear for a finale, it ends. Normally, that’s a good thing, don’t overstay your welcome. But here, it feels like it could have used some more love toward the end of the film.
Gore Hounds Will Be Happy, Hopefully Benny Is Back
The character of Benny, with his scarecrow outfit could be a new age slasher villain that people latch onto. For fans of hyper-gore and slasher violence, Die’ced: Reloaded will be a good time. But for the reasons above, it really could have been something much more.
Die’ced: Reloaded is out now for a limited theatrical run and releases on rental, digital, and VOD on August 12th.
