EASTER BLOODY EASTER *** USA 2024 Dir: Diane Foster. 104 mins
‘The beast rises within as you shuffle towards the counter. Your tortured orbs seek those happy, glistening nodules of chocolate pleasure you know you put them wrapped up in foil paper. You can’t resist the hunger, ripping open the wrapping, handful of fun is pushed down your throat. You have found relief in a moment’s respite until the awful unholy drive grips you again in the afternoon sun.’
Not an ‘Easter Egg’ moment from Diane Foster’s Easter Bloody Easter (2024) film but a moment of confection addiction that some have for chocolate and other things yes, they are things on holidays such as Easter. From the utterly classic Night Of The Lepus (1972) to the Bunnyman film series, Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! (2006) to the Bunnicula TV series regarding a vampire bunny who sucks the juices out of vegetables, our furry friends are wreaking havoc on humans.
Easter Bloody Easter tells the tale of Texas housewife Jeanie Cooper (Diane Foster) who embarks on a journey to find and save her husband who has disappeared. All the clues are large footprints and the bloodstained cab of a truck found in the wood. To add to the terror their town is being terrorized by a bloodthirsty Jackalope killing anyone that crosses its path. The picture is filled with wholesome Easter festivities, which quickly turn into scenes of horror, death and chaos as demon red-eyed bunnies led by the monstrous Jackalope find their way even in daylight. The film asks the question as Jeannie and a band of diverse friends seek to unveil the creature’s identity.
Easter Bloody Easter (2024) is like a two-headed creature that the Jackalope is not. Taking an established holiday creature like Krampus, Leprechaun, Santa Claus and now the Winnie The Pooh series changed to be menacing. The Easter holiday is shown bright and happy with smiley faces, and kids getting Easter eggs which at times get filled with tedious humor and wholesome activities that pad out the film. Needless quirky characters populate the town, like folk that speak with odd voices, carry crossbows, dress in leather and speak like a cross between Life and Real Housewives Of Texas.
There is a competent 90-minute film in here or perhaps even 75 to 80 minutes with more terror added not fluff. I find dance sequences odd in genre films unless they fit the story and there are a couple in this film that seem to again pad out the moments along with a music track that imposes itself rather than support the action. One example is a line dancing moment plus an actual tribute to a member of the cast from Jeanie Cooper playing guitar in a church that rings genuine and seems out of place in a fast-talking over-the-top horror outing.
The tone is light almost with frivolity except as the film gets going, and the practical gore that happens with some varied intensity. Good cast with often too much to say with some scene chewing going on but kept level-headed with the suddenly leather-clad, sword-swinging bloody Jeanie Cooper who is hunting for her husband against the bunnies.
The effects on the demon bunnies were designed by Jesse Velez of Raptor House FX., who is known for creating the new reincarnation of ‘Thing’ now called ‘Hand’ from Netflix’s Wednesday. The bunnies glow red, more with a practical purpose, know what they want and kill without mercy.
Easter Bloody Easter (2024) action moves swiftly in points with not enough attention to what it is supposed to be as the script is unfocused. Too much play time on the screen and not enough of what the film is about which is a story of redemption, death, healing the past and feeling good about one’s life again against the menace of a folk horror bunny. Look forward to more terror footage, serious characters for the genre and terror in perhaps the ‘Easter Eggs’ on the home media release. Quell the two-headed monster.
Review by Terry Sherwood