REVENGE OF BILLY THE KID *** UK 1992 Dir: Jim Groom. 72 mins
In a small Cornish village all is not as it seems when an elderly man Farmer Gyles starts feeling a bit randy from consuming to much alcohol he decides to have sex with a goat….yes a goat!.
Lo and behold the goat gives birth to a crazy mutated being, half man, half demonic goat. Billy, the newborn mutation is taunted as a child and goes on a killing spree in the local village, slaughtering everything in its path.
Revenge Of Billy The Kid is a darkly comedic send up to a plethora of films, including The Evil Dead, and there’s even elements of Monty Python here. It feels like you’re watching a Troma movie like Cannibal! The Musical at times, just without the lavish songs. The film is set in Cornwall and the Cornish accent does suit this twisted dark comedy, as horror in the quaint country side is a very unique spectacle.
The MacDonald’s own the farm, as in old MacDonald’s farm, Farmer Gyles is the farmer, and also Farmer Gyles is cockney rhyming slang for piles, the gags here are so in your face which is really funny!
This film was meant to be Britain’s answer to The Evil Dead, with the majority of it being shot in the last part of the 80’s. However, years of financial problems caused issues to the production, with the film finally being released here in all its gruesome glory a few years later than originally planned, but it didn’t get a home video release until 1992.
The gore effects are very good, and there’s some crazy kills in this film. The effects used are gruesomely great. This is definitely a marmite film, you will either love or hate Revenge Of Billy The Kid. Horror and comedy do go hand in hand, but I think this film is too clever for its own good at times. If you can get over the hammy acting and bad jokes you can see your way through the mist into a fun British horror romp.
Review by Tony Newton