[HORROR MOVIE CORNER] The Backwater Gospel (2011)

 

Hello horror movie fans! Welcome to the all-new "Horror Movie Corner," where I talk about the horror movies that I have seen over the years!  So, this week's horror movie that I will be reviewing is the animated horror short film, "The Backwater Gospel!"

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Title: The Backwater Gospel

Starring:  Zebulon Whatley, Laura Post, Phillip Sacramento, Lucien Dodge 

Genre:  Horror / Drama

Company:   The Animation Workshop

Directed by: Bo Mathorne  

Year: 2011

This movie has some strong and gory violence.

Welcome to the town of Backwater, where everything there seems to be under a state of decay and despair.  In this town, a minister runs the town with an iron fist as everyone obeys his every command, including his main supporter, Bubba.  But there is one man in the town who doesn't obey the minister's every command and he is known as the Tramp.  The minister, of course, hates the Tramp due to this and he tries every day to turn the townspeople against the Tramp.  One day, however, a dreaded entity known as the Undertaker comes to the town of Backwater and it is said that whenever the Undertaker comes into town, someone is going to die.  So, the townspeople spend most of the short panicking over who will die, while the Undertaker just sits by, waiting for someone to die.

So, when I first heard about this animated short film that came out on YouTube years ago, I just had to check out this short, since I've been hearing lots of good things about this short.  And lo and behold, this short was just as good as I've imagined!  What I loved about this short was the gritty animation.  I loved the fact that this short film has a gritty and dark style to it, as it really brings on the horrific nature of the town of Backwater's situation with the Undertaker.  Another thing that I liked about this short was the voice acting.  All of the voice actors did such a fantastic job at voicing the characters in this short, as they really bring on the aggressiveness and fear that the characters experienced throughout this short.  I especially loved the voices for both Bubba and the Minister, as they both have the most emotional range to their voices, and it was especially eerie hearing Bubba roar like an animal in this film since that took me by surprise.  Another thing that I liked about this short was the plot.  The fact that this film is about a desolate town becoming so paranoid about the Undertaker's arrival, that they ended up doing horrible things towards the end of the short, was really exciting and horrifying for me.  Also, the horror atmosphere of this short kept me on edge!

The biggest issue that I had with this film was that I wish that we got to know more about the characters themselves, as well as how the town of Backwater became such a decaying town.  I wanted to know more about the minister himself and how he was able to gain the power to rule the town with an iron fist.  I also wanted to learn more about the Tramp himself (although there has been some extra material that explained about how he got to the town of Backwater in the first place) as I wanted to learn more about the Tramp's backstory and why he's the way he is.

Overall, "The Backwater Gospel" is a truly horrifying and entertaining short film that you must watch!  If you are a huge fan of religious horror, then you should definitely check out this short film!