Hold the Fort is a gore-filled wacky ride

Hold the Fort is a new horror film that follows young couple Jenny (Haley Leary) and Lucas (Chris Mayers) as they move into an idyllic and peaceful new neighborhood and are invited to the homeowner's association party by HOA president Jerry (Julian Smith). Jenny immediately has her hackles raised about the strangeness of the vibe, but aloof Lucas is just along for the ride. As the night descends into a horrific fight for survival from all things that go bump in the night, the young couple must defend their new home and their lives to survive until sun up.

Capture the flag, tower defense, king of the hill; all childhood games that we have the fondest memories of and they are based in one concept, hold the position. From all the way back into medieval times of sieging the castle, the idea of holding down a territory from a opposing force has been baked into our cultural psyche since we were born. Hold the Fort isn't breaking any sort of mold here, they are just taking a fun idea and breathing some life into it using a genre combination that we all know and love.

The second film from young director William Bagley, Hold the Fort is horror comedy to the bone. Pairing perfectly manicured lawns and property maintenance with werewolves, witches and demons is quite the juxtaposition but it works really well here. One of my favorite parts of this film is that is doesn't try to make itself anything it isn't. It knows that the audience is there to see people fight the creatures of the night and it takes all of ten minutes to get there. Being thrust immediately into the action feels natural, the characters don't know what's going on and neither do you and that provides a genuine connection and helps you feel the same way they do. The runtime is brisk, and its because they kept this as lean as possible. It's a really fun time, there is plenty of kills and gore and while not every joke lands consistently, they rapid fire enough at you so you are already laughing at the next one.

Courtesy of Sunrise Films

Being so short and so quick to the action does leave Hold the Fort feeling very devoid of character depth. We get a general vibe for our protagonists, but people are dying so quickly, we don't get to know them at all. This applies to almost any character. You are left feeling indifferent about their survival and mostly just rooting for entertaining deaths. While a lot of practical effects are used and appreciated, a lot of the digital stuff looks awful by comparison. I love the creative choices to utilize practical effects but I wish they could have gotten almost everything practical, which I know is considerably easier said than done. The jokes come at you like a tommy gun and not everything hits, almost like a sketch show.

Even with its flaws, I truly believe Hold the Fort accomplished exactly what it wanted to. It is a blook-soaked barrage of chaotic kills, goofy humor, waves of terrifying creatures and absolute mayhem. It is so easily digestible at just over 70 minutes, and you can just switch your brain off and enjoy a classic premise with some new gasps of life injected. You can see Hold the Fort on demand on all platforms now.