Die'ced: Reloaded — Die'ced: Reloaded( Blu Ray)
Die'ced: Reloaded is a modern slasher which feels very like a crossbreed between Terrifier and Rob Zombie's Halloween- without the sweary rednecks of the latter. It’s a passable enough attempt at the modern stalk ‘n’ slash genre- with light touches of originality, as well as almost wholesale mimicking of scenes from both Terrifier, and Halloween. Here from Epic Pictures is a Blu-ray. Extras-wise, it takes in the original 2023 Die'ced- which is basically the same film, with a shorter runtime.
Die'ced: Reloaded was directed by Seattle-born Jeremy Rudd. His only other credit is 2021’s The Dark Side, which looks like a city-set Zombie film. Though since the early 2000’s he racked up an impressive sixty credits in shorts, indie films, and TV series.
Things kick off on Halloween night with a balding psychiatrist going to see Benjam( Jason Brooks), a towering figure wearing a paper mask, who is handcuffed to the table. We find out he killed, then chopped up a family into tiny bits some years back, and hasn’t spoken since. The doctor gives him some crayons- the killer does some manic red scribbling, then we get a jump cut- the killer has managed to get out of his chains, and has handcuffed the doc- limbs around broken with bones sticking out, crayons are forced in ears & up the nose, with fingers being snapped off the used as crayons.
We then shift to meet are two meant to be teen, though clearly in their twenties, leads- there’s Cassandra( Eden Campbell), and her bespeckled brother Tommy( Colin Fisher). They live with their stable-bound/trying-his-best his best father( Nigel Vonas). We’re told the pair's mother just up and left sometime back.
And you guessed it, Benjam escapes after ripping apart the psychiatrist, heading for near where Cassandra and Tommy are. Along the way, he steals a scarecrow costume. He breaks into houses to hack off limbs, heads are smashed in & ripped apart, there are brutal knife throat slashings and scythe hackings.
The scarecrow killer is fine, though it definitely feels like a crossbreed of Art the Clown, and Rob Zombie's Michael Myers. We see him stalking in shadows, going to a café to creep out folk, pretending to be a prop scarecrow, etc.
The film has a score that blends throbbing and moody synth fare, and synth pop- all with a very 80’s feel to them.
Die'ced: Reloaded is a passable enough modern slasher- sure, it liberally steals from other films, but there’s enough sadistic brutality, low-key creepiness, and rapidly flowing pace for those who enjoy the modern slasher form. And I’d certainly watch another Benjam the killing scarecrow film, ie, Die'ced 2.