My Thoughts On Mauler
The first scene in Mauler comes in strong, where a young kid named Lucas walks in on his dad strangling his mom, grabs a sledgehammer, and takes his old man out with one brutal swing. It’s fast, violent, and kind of shocking in how blunt it is.
Then his ultra-religious grandma shows up, sees the bloody mess, and instead of calling the cops, basically says, “God’s got a plan for you, kid.”
Flash forward 20 years, and Lucas is now a local legend, known online as “Mauler,” which is a pretty solid nickname when your main hobby is hammer-related murder. Meanwhile, a group of teens (played by Kate Noel, Skyylar Perdomo, Sebastian Betancur, Sarah Siverson, and Jayden Stith) decide to break into Lucas’s old house for a $25,000 dark web challenge.
Predictably, things go sideways fast, as the house isn’t abandoned. Lucas is still there, bigger, quieter, and angrier than ever, and he hasn’t lost his touch with the sledgehammer, and from here on, it’s a slasher movie.
The setup is familiar, with teens doing dumb things online, urban legends, creepy house, all the basic ingredients are there. But the way it plays out and the execution of it is where the film stumbles.
For one, these characters start making horror movie decisions so dumb they almost feel like parody. They know something’s off before they enter the house. They hear weird sounds, see signs of someone inside, even get straight-up warnings, and still walk right in. I know it's horror, and horror decisions are dumb, but c'mon.
For one, these characters start making horror movie decisions so dumb they almost feel like parody. They know something’s off before they enter the house. They hear weird sounds, see signs of someone inside, even get straight-up warnings, and still walk right in. I know it's horror, and horror decisions are dumb, but c'mon.
Once things start going south, where one of them literally gets kidnapped, they still don’t leave. No police, no panic, just more wandering around like they’re in an escape room. It’s frustrating, and not in a fun, “yell at the screen” way" more like, “Did anyone actually read this script?”
Add in some pacing issues, even at the short runtime it has, and a couple of subplots that literally go nowhere, the script could have really done with a once over, or maybe a twice over.
And yet, Mauler is not all bad.
Terence Bernie Hines, who wrote and directed it, actually knows how to shoot a scene. The film is clean, consistent, and moody enough to sell the tension, and the kills are decent enough. I did like Lucas as the Mauler though, tall, silent, and quite intimidating, and Breck Cuddy does a good job making him feel dangerous even when he doesn't say a word.
The teen cast also works better than expected, and while the acting overall isn’t amazing, it’s believable enough minus the script issues, especially considering the budget and the material they’re working with.
Mauler isn’t breaking any new ground. It’s a low-budget slasher that has some great opening energy and a cool villain concept but gets dragged down by a messy script and characters who make nonsensical choices.
As it is, it’s watchable, just. But don't go in expecting much more than some dumb fun at times. It’s not good exactly, but it’s not too boring, either. And that's always a plus.