PUNCH (2023)

New On Demand and digital download from Miracle Media!
Directed/Written by Andy Edwards.
Starring Alina Allison, Faye Campbell, Macaulay Cooper, Kierston Wareing, Jamie Lomas, Sarah Alexandra Marks, Daniel Fathers, & Marc Outbreak as Punch.
Check out the trailer here!!

When Frankie (played by Alina Allison) decides to leave her small home town and go to college, she decides to go out for one last night of partying with her friend Holly (Faye Campbell) and ex-boyfriend Daryl (Macaulay Cooper), ignoring the pleas of her mother who says she needs Frankie to stay home and take care of her. But as Frankie tries to forget her woes and bury herself in music, drugs, and sex, a local legend named Mr. Punch roams the streets to teach young rebellious teens to behave with his heinous laugh and a wooden bat.

I found PUNCH to be interesting as it begins as a typical little slasher about one masked man stalking a young girl but evolves into something much bigger and more insidious. Director/writer Andy Edwards amps up the intensity of Mr. Punch’s attacks pretty much from beginning to end. Mr. Punch’s path of destruction begins pretty early in the film and while there is some getting to know you time so you get to feel for Frankie’s plight. There is a lot left unanswered at the beginning concerning the fate of Frankie’s father, but it is addressed by the end. So Edwards does a good job of tying all of the action, albeit seemingly random, to the central plot. It makes for a tight an succinct story with very little fat to parse through.

Punch’s wrath is quite brutal as he beats multiple people over the heads with his bat. Though there is little variety to his beatings, there are some very interesting settings for Punch to go nuts. An amusement park, a rocky beach, and a rave are all locales utilized to great and gory effect. This change in setting makes the fact that only one weapon is used feel fresh every time. On top of that, the mask is pretty darn scary and paired with the high pitched and shrill voice, is downright terrifying.

I was surprised how well this one worked, especially the performances from the lead Alina Allison who has entrancing eyes and can kick some decent ass at times. Yes, there are a few contrived moments where Punch lets his guard down so Frankie can use his own weapons against him that had me slapping my head, but I was surprised how intense and disturbing PUNCH gets by the end and the truth to the Punch legend is revealed. It all makes for an unsettling little slasher film worth checking out.