Punch – Review

Bloody brutal Brit seaside slasher sees a pulverising puppet relentlessly terrorise the town’s youths, but what does he want and are more sinister forces at work?

The character of Pulcinella (Punchinello) led to the birth of Mr Punch in traditional seaside Punch and Judy shows. The Punch and Judy show has roots in the 16th-century Italian commedia dell’arte.

The figure who later became Mr. Punch made his first recorded appearance in England on the 9th of May 1662, which is traditionally known as Punch’s UK birthday.

Punch’s wife was originally called “Joan.” which would probably be more fitting for the setting of this seaside slasher. But who cares with all that historical stuff eh?, Mr Punch is alive ‘n killing in PUNCH.

Andy Edwards’ seaside slasher sees the petrifying puppet brought to life to terrorise the tourists and the locals alike in this wickedly wacky new feature that’s been dubbed ‘one of the best slasher flicks to come along since Terrifier’ by GBV Reviews…

Ambitious student Frankie (Alina Allison – Cuttlefish) has returned to her hometown to visit her troubled Mum, Julia (Kierston Wareing – Fish Tank). But with her mum’s new boyf, Elton (Jamie Lomas – The Wind That Shakes the Barley) hanging around like the pungent smell of mouldy old seaweed, she can’t wait to leave the Kent coast for good.

Unfortunately, the young locals are about to get more than they bargained for when an old folk tale becomes all too real and Mr Punch comes to drop a few squeaky voiced quips as he smashes their brains in.

As the carnage escalates, can Frankie survive the brutal bashings and discover the twisted truth behind this seaside town’s folk tale?

The cinematography is stunning, with the seaside town they forgot to close down becoming a bit of a character in itself, and the score is great too. But the film is unfortunately hamstrung by it’s low budget, small things become really noticeable like why there’s a random fella sat eating an ice cream in front of a closed, shuttered Ice cream stand and the ultimate low budget film makers nightmare of the supporting artists not turning up for the big party scene so you have to make do with having just a few people.

The cast is good, but (I’m no language expert) their accents seemed to be from all over the country considering they were meant to have never left this small seaside town.

I also felt Mr Punch needed to shut up a bit, a lot of his merry quips couldn’t be fully understood, and if he had been a little more Michael Myers, the sinister nature of the character would have been more impactful, as he was I just felt you could easily punch his swazzle right down his throat. I wasn’t sure until the end of course, but I felt his voice was tipping who the masked killer was too.

There are moments of genius in this film along with some decent kills that I feel Mr Edwards would have excelled in making had he had a bigger purse.

Oh and the ending is just as Wicker Man as I was hoping.

So all things considered Punch is a low budget, British slasher movie that I’d really like to see given a sequel, or even a big budget remake. The folkloric nature and the “local” community, Wicker Man/Royston Vasey vibe give it the scope for many future sequels, prequels and dare I say it, spin-offs.

Also, I really want to know who Mr Crocodile is and what the hell he does in that caravan…

Following its FrightFest premiere this year, the brutally bloody British horror gets its digital release on the 22nd of January courtesy of Miracle Media.

On UK digital 22 January