Trailer Park of Terror (2008)

When watching most horror movies, I come into the experience with very low expectations. Poor production values, incompetent acting and a terrible script usually reduce most films of the genre to little more than the cinematic equivalent of an undercooked TV dinner. While Trailer Park of Terror manages to avoid some of the most common pitfalls, it still has enough problems to prevent it from becoming more than an average viewing experience.

The film begins with Norma (Nichole Hiltz) preparing for a date with a nice boy who lives outside of her trailer park. Things quickly take a turn for the worse, however, and her beau finds himself meeting a grisly end.

Filled with rage, Norma soon happens across a massive figure known only as “The Man” (country star Trace Adkins in a surprisingly effective cameo). The stranger offers her a way to get revenge on the trailer park, a cesspool of sub-humans which include a violent rockabilly musician, an obese women with a meat fetish, a busty Asian prostitute, and the resident butcher/war hero/amateur porn director.

Norma takes the deal and soon embarks on a blood-soaked quest for revenge which ends with a fiery explosion and a lot of dead rednecks. I don’t know if an Asian prostitute can be considered a redneck, but I suppose that’s beside the point.

Fast forward a few decades to the present day where a group of troubled teens are returning from a Christian retreat into the mountains. A freak storm causes their van to crash, and guess where they wind up seeking shelter? The trailer park is in surprisingly good condition–considering it burned down decades ago–and Norma is waiting to greet them with a smile and an unbelievably form-fitting red dress. As you might have guessed, things start to get bloody in short order.

Trailer Park of Terror offers plenty of gore, but anyone hoping for some quality white trash nudity will be sorely disappointed (even with the “unrated“ version). I have to admit being a little surprised, especially since I was convinced that Nichole Hiltz would bare it all.

While she doesn’t grace gorehounds with her naked body, Hiltz does do a nice job of channeling Jaime Pressly. Her resemblance to the star of My Name Is Earl–both in voice and physical appearance–is more than a little uncanny. The script by Timothy Dolan also gives her the opportunity to show range, as Norma veers from innocent victim to deranged monster.

All the performances in Trailer Park of Terror are surprisingly solid, especially for a low-budget horror flick. Of the film’s “victims,” Ryan Carnes shines as the requisite jerk of the group; however, this movie really belongs to the bad guys, and the actors portraying the zombified rednecks get to ham it up with wild abandon.

I especially liked Ed Corbin as Sgt. Stank, the hulking butcher with a taste for porn. His deep voice and unique look allow him to stand out in both life and unlife. Here’s hoping that Big Ed’s talents are used in more upcoming genre films.

While the redneck killers provide moments of both horror and levity, this also presents the biggest weakness for Trailer Park of Terror: the “good guys” are given second billing once the action starts, and their deaths seem more certain than in your average horror flick. Even the final girl showdown with goth heroine Bridget (Jeanette Brox) lacks any real suspense and feels incredibly rushed.

The gore effects are top-notch, and unexpected moments like a zombie/rockabilly guitar solo help separate Trailer Park of Terror from the usual horror film flotsam. While it’s far from perfect, fans of murder and mayhem should find it a fun way to kill 98 minutes (or a bit longer if you pause the movie to look up pictures of Nichole Hiltz on the Internet).