Two out of
Five stars
Running time:
90 mins
This warped British horror about a group of young offenders who find themselves in a
Yorkshire village filled with dangerous inbreds is daft, disturbing and defective but
thankfully, it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
What’s it all about?
Directed and co-written by Alex Chandon, Inbred is a British horror set in North Yorkshire and
tells the story of four young offenders, who travel to a remote and eerie village for a youth
project with their care workers, Kate (Jo Hartley) and Jeff (James Doherty). After a quick
visit to the local pub upon arrival, the group soon realise something isn’t quite right as
creepy locals gawp and heave suspicious-looking body bags. When Jeff is involved in an accident
whilst warning some hair-raising locals to stay away from the kids, trouble soon ensues and the
group find themselves captured by the inbred townspeople, who have torturous plans for each and
every one of them.
The Good
All you have to know about this ghastly horror flick is its crass tagline of ‘They came in
peace. They left in pieces’, which should also tell you that this is one ghastly horror flick
that doesn’t take itself seriously; and praise has to be handed to writers Alex Chandon and
Paul Shrimpton, who just about manage to create a fairly original and reasonably enjoyable
horror movie through their pairing of an utterly ridiculous concept with painfully gruesome
violence. Despite a few clichés in terms of its setup for the unfolding horror (the eerie pub
landlord dropping a glass when Kate mentions which cottage they’re staying in, for example),
with its extremely gore-filled torture acts and strange plot, Inbred is certainly memorable –
but whether that’s for the right reasons or not is a different matter.
The Bad
North Londoner Alex Chandon’s warped filmic view of Northerners being typical boozy degenerates
with inbred traits is outdated and quite frankly a little tasteless, and the film’s attempts at
creating humour are unsuccessful, with a lot of ‘jokes’ unlikely to raise any laughs among
audiences. Ultimately, Inbred also fails to provide any emotional pay-offs for viewers and its
attempt at creating likeable characters for the audience to root for is tarnished with Kate’s
petulant and hysterical warbling and the unconvincing blossoming romance between proud arsonist
Tim (James Burrows) and quiet wallflower Sam (Nadine Rose Mulkerrin).
Worth seeing?
Despite its many faults, Inbred is a fairly entertaining and original piece of horror
filmmaking but its tasteless and crass gore tactics won’t suit everyone’s tastes.