There are certain tenants required by all horror films. It has to be set in an isolated location to make sure the audience understands the hapless victims are trapped in some fashion. Next you need a youthful, attractive cast. Naturally in our double standard driven society this translates to beautiful girls. The director will get extra points with the guys watching if the actresses are not overly concerned with their wardrobe or keeping it on. Last you need a seriously deranged psycho killer. He may not be required to think a whole lot but he has to come up with imaginative methods of dispatching the kids. This is a formula that has now been over done more time than imaginable especially by new film makers in the world of independent film. With so much repetition you can watch a movie for the first time and find yourself mouthing the lines of dialogue as they happen. It is rare but once in a great while a film comes along in the horror genre that offers something fresh. It has most of the same elements in all the others but there is a different feel to its presentation. This is the case with ‘Alive or Dead’ by Stephen Goetsch. On the surface it appears to be just another Indy horror flick hack. Upon watching it I found myself drawn into the story; actually caring about the fate of the young woman involved. Usually I am so feed up with the teens or twenty-somethings used as fodder for the homicidal maniac on the loose that I almost look forward to them getting killed just to get them off the screen and to stop them from talking. This is snot how this film comes across. It is a nicely crafted piece of horror with enough thrills and chills in it to keep the viewers engaged throughout.

Stephen Goetsch both wrote and directed this novel movie. As a writer he has two other scripts under his belt. His first was ‘Bleeding Iowa’ which he also directed, produced and worked as a cinematographer and actor. This was a political thriller and seems well received. His next screenplay was ‘Scar’, another horror flick that he also produced but did not direct. This appears to have given hi a leg up on many of the other Indy would be horror masters. Most of his other credits were as an editor. This has taught him the proper way to make sure the telling of a story is cohesive. In this film his story is simple, setting the stage for the horror well before any overt signs of danger are displayed. He has an actual plot, something sorely missing from the legion of other flicks in this genre. Unlike other movies like this the cast is not overcrowded. The lack of cast members works well in its favor. The feel of the movie is more like an old ‘Twilight Zone’ episode; direct and to the point with an interesting twist building throughout the piece. On occasion Goetsch does pander to the more juvenile members of his audience but he is just following the pre-established check list of the genre.

The film opens with a young woman, Maria (Ann Henson) alone in her car driving down a desolate road. She is listening to a voice on her telephone and starts to rub her own ample breasts. She breaks it off saying they are both really bad at telephone sex. The voice on the other end of the call is Terry, her boyfriend. She must be frustrated since she has a vibrator that falls out of her bag and for some reason chooses the cigarette lighter adapter to pleasure herself. I guess it reminds her of Terry, poor guy. In most states using a cell phone while driving is against the law, this scene demonstrates something besides talking that makes these devices dangerous to use while driving. As Maria drives on she passes what seems to be an abandoned school bus. Maria thinks see saw something on the bus and puts Terry on hold. Someone wrote ‘Help Me’ on one of the windows of the bus. Terry warns her that she shouldn’t investigate since it is the begriming of every bad horror flick ever. When Goetsch does have to resort to a hackney plot device at least he can make fun of using it. Any way, if Maria took Terry’s advice there wouldn’t be much a movie to follow. Her cell phone battery is just about out so she tries to recharge it. Unfortunately, the adapter doesn’t fit the lighter socket as well as it did Maria. With just about everybody owing cell phones the horror flick writers now have to come up with why they victims just can’t call for help. This method of cutting off Maria from assistance is at least a little better than the usual ‘no service’ ploy. Maria tries to drive away but her two front tires pops and goes flat. Just a reminder for the ladies; if you plan on driving through deserted areas of the country invests the extra money in puncture proof tires. She pulls off the road and hears something outside. After locking the doors she pulls a little flashlight out of her bag but it doesn’t work. Maria takes the batteries from her vibrator and puts them in the flashlight and it goes on. After looking around she gets out of the car and finds nails on the road, the source of hr flats. In front of the bus is another car; also with flat tires. Maria goes into the bus to try to use the radio but, guess what, it is dead. She hears something in the back of the bus. She goes to investigate and is startled by a young woman chained to the back with some sort of human flesh mask covering her head. As Maria tries to help the girl she sees a light outside. As she turns to hide she finds a pile of human body parts all partially eaten. Outside a man, the Bus Driver (Thomas Crnkovich) is pulling a dead body on to the bus. I guess everybody needs a snack on a road trip. The driver sweeps up outside and gets back in driving off with Maria now trapped, hidden in the back with Gretchen (Gretchen Busenitz). After a night of driving they stop. The Driver pulls the dead man on and starts to drag him to a building. He is having difficulty due to the size of the corpse. This is the dilemma of the cannibalistic serial killer. You want a good size victim for the ample supply of meat but they are so hard to move around. I turns out the sizable man, Frank (L. Flint Esquerra), is not dead yet. He comes to and fights with the driver getting the best of him. Just as he is about to kill the murderer Maria reveals herself and stops him telling the man to tie up the killer instead. She frees Gretchen and she goes to talk to Frank. As Maria is talking to Frank Gretchen gets up and smashes the drives head in spraying blood all over. Needless to say the bad day that Maria is having has just started. The remainder of the story is a taut thriller of distrust and suspicion.

What separates this movie from the mundane pack is the way it transitions seamlessly from a horror flick to a psychological thriller. Every time you think you have the plot figured out the story takes a turn keeping you guessing. Little is what if seems and that is something that you don’t see a lot of now especially in this genre. Goetsch may be relatively new to writing and directing but if he keeps going in this direction he will shortly be one of the new guiding forces for Indy films. This film must have hade a smaller than usual budget and quick paced filming scheduled but Goetsch makes the most out of the very limited resources at his disposal. He is creative and able to pull together a film worth watching out of a very simple premise and mostly newcomer cast members.

The film is being distributed to DVD by Lion’s Gate. They are one of the studios to watch if you enjoy little independent films that are practically off the radar. This is one definitely worth getting and enjoying.,