THE WEED HACKER MASSACRE (2024)

Recently played at the Golden State Film Festival (I’ll let you know when it will be released for all to consume)!
Directed by Jody Stelzig.
Written by Ray Spivey.
Check out the trailer here!!

Willie Wonder (David Trevino) is an up-and-coming actor and in possession of a wicked mullet. When he travels to Red Eye, Texas with a cadre of groupies in tow to catch a music festival, Willie and the gals are murdered in a mass slaughter. The town believes the killer to be Pokerface (Sean Reyna) a misunderstood man-monster, but in fact, it was the villainous Gunther family who did the dirty deed. Though believed dead, Willie’s mullet stops a bullet, but he walks away with amnesia from the massacre. Pokerface takes care of the amnesiac Willie, befriending him and keeping him alive with roadkill and lots of card games. Meanwhile, the rest of the country has built a false story that it was Willie himself who killed the co-eds since his body was never recovered. Ten years after the massacre, a movie crew with the only survivor of the massacre arrive in town to film an adaptation of that fateful night. Will Willie remember what happened that night? Will he be able to clear his name and identify the real killers? These are the questions answered in this horror spoof, THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE.

Now, THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE is a very low budget, DIY horror film. Put together with a lick and a promise, the film does manage to pull off quite a bit with very little, involving flashbacks, origin stories, and a commentary on the movie making business that often swoops into small towns with hopes of fame and glory only to suck it dry for a studios sole benefit. If you’ve ever worked behind the scenes in a low budget movie, like I have, you’re going to recognize a lot of the background games filmmakers play in order to get their movie made. While it is all done on the budgetary low, THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE is able to capture those hard truths well.

The comedy works occasionally. A lot of it falls in the category of “weed humor” where simply talking about weed makes weed smokers giggle. I chuckled a time or two, more at the Hollywood shady behavior than the more slapstick or weed stuff. If I were to compare the humor of THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE to anything, it would be to CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL, low fi film that I hold in high regard. In that film, there is a lot of humor that lands with a thud, but there is an attitude that shines through. Maybe it’s because lead David Trevino looks a little like Trey Parker in a bad wig, but for some reason, the two films feel like they are on the right level in terms of the old chuckle-meter. This isn’t a laugh a minute, but I did like the bulletproof mullet gag and the tuft of hair that becomes his friend is gross, but funny.

The acting, not so top notch. While there are few deadpan deliveries, there is a lot of overacting, which oftentimes is just as bad. David Trevino is the best of the bunch as Willie Wonder, with Bobbie Grace giving a decent performance as the director of the film within the film. She looks a lot like Katee Sackhoff, which is niiiiiice. Shrewd TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE fans will recognize Allen Danziger as Sheriff Danzinshoos. Get it? Dancing Shoes? Yep, it’s that type of humor, folks.

It seems like the folks behind THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE had some fun making it and I hope they did. If you like weed humor or just are looking for something made by fans in a Do-It-Yourself type of way that was common in the late eighties when everyone wanted to make a horror movie, THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE fits the bill. It’s not a laugh a minute, but the gore is competent (something that is always surprisingly good in these types of films), but the rest of the film is only going to be for the die-hard low budget horror fans.