A potential horror icon, or a copy of clown art? Cinemax
If you’ve visited horror groups on social media over the past few months, you may have encountered him: a murderous scarecrow named Benny or by his full name, Benjamin. You may also have seen comparisons to a guy named Art the Clown, or to the fact that the film in question – an independent film called “Diec’ed” created by twins Jeremy and Nathan Rudd – is very reminiscent of the “Terrify” films, or at least has the potential to be the new “Terrifier.” Some articles even claimed that a new horror icon could be born here, before our eyes. It was clear to me that I needed to see the movie “Die’ced” to understand what it was about.
Quite unusually, the film somehow comes from the horror community. The creators have chosen a fairly smart and effective campaign (at no cost, as they attest), in which they establish contact with the audience, ask for feedback and respond to it in a neutral manner. In my opinion, this is a great step for a low-budget independent film, which probably won’t be able to spend huge amounts of money on marketing, if at all. This dialogue with the creators increased my desire to see the film. Add to that the fact that I love scarecrow movies (even though they tend to be very silly) and the film’s short length, and you’ll see why I had to add it to my schedule.
Looking back, I don’t regret having done it, even if it’s difficult to say that “Die’ced” is impeccable.
Meet Benny, the villain from Die’ced
The story of Die’ced is simple, as you can perhaps learn from its hour-long screen time (gross, because there are about 15 minutes of subtitles before and at the end of the film). So we ended up with about a 45 minute movie, most of which is dedicated to the Benny murders. On the plus side, it’s nice because you can easily add it to your schedule. Negatively, it’s difficult to build a plot without holes or character development in such a short time.
The plot begins with a dialogue between two nurses at an insane asylum who discover that a serial killer named Benjamin (Benny) has been released by mistake. In a somewhat strange move, they decide not to announce his escape, but to hide the evidence that he was even in the insane asylum. Benny arrives at a house and chooses his first victim, a poor guy who dresses up as a scarecrow for a Halloween party. He brutally murders her, steals the costume along with some accessories, like makeup tools and knives, and goes on a mission.
As we quickly learn, Benny’s mission is to track down members of the Blain family. Cassandra, or Cass (Eden Campbell, “The Mortuary Collection,” “They Reach”), is a beautiful young woman preparing for the Halloween party. She lives with her brother (Collin Fisher) and father (Nigal Vonas) after the mysterious disappearance of her mother. Next, she tries to figure out what happened to the mother and if it is linked to a man from her past who might be linked to Benny. From there we mostly get Benny’s killing spree, until the final confrontation with the heroine. Benny’s story could have been tighter and more reliable, which could be resolved in subsequent films, assuming there are any.
Here is the trailer for “Die’ced”:
Film Die’ced: a low-budget production, but with surprises
In terms of production, “Die’ced,” for the most part, certainly looks impressive, if not a bit better than its budget — which I suspect is very low — suggests. There are some nice shots, the creators’ choice of camera angles is exciting and sometimes creative, and there’s quite a bit of gore, which in most cases (although not all) is compelling given the budget. In this regard, the Rudd twins behind the film demonstrate talent and love for the genre and could become interesting horror creators.
Obviously, the film has quite a few problems. Campbell does a decent job as Cass, showing that she is an actress to watch. Jason Brooks, as Benny, is a successful character in his appearance and some of his moves, but in any case it’s clear that he needs a lot of development as a character in his own right, with his own murderous nature. Some other supporting players in the “Die’ced” cast are less convincing, as you might expect in a minimally budgeted film.
“Die’ced” relies too much on sound, the soundtrack – mostly synthpop music that transports us to the 80s – seems excessive to me, with one or two scenes where the soundtrack takes over the scene and interferes with the dialogue. I think it would have been okay to reduce the use of sound or find more “excuses” to incorporate it as an integral part of the plot, i.e. sound on screen rather than off screen.
Wanted: a scarecrow with more personality
As soon as the movie “Die’ced” came out, we saw comparisons to Art the Clown from the “Terrify” movies. The truth is, after seeing the film, I agree with these comparisons, for better or worse. The character of the killer in a scarecrow costume behaves in many cases simply like clown art: not only facial makeup, but also facial expressions, movements, lack of use of words, etc. During the movie, I tried to think about whether Benny looked like Art disguised as a scarecrow, a scarecrow disguised as Art, a clown disguised as a scarecrow disguised as a serial killer, a serial killer disguised as a scarecrow in clown form, or perhaps a combination of several things.
On the one hand, it adds creepiness to the villain, which is impressive and even frightening. On the other hand, I did not find an explanation in the film that would show why he behaves this way. If in the case of Art or “The Jester” (another independent horror film about a killer clown released recently) the character’s gesture can be explained by the fact that he is a kind of clown, in the case of Banny there is no explanation. So even though the villain seems cool, I would expect to see more of his character in the sequels. I want more Benjamin here, or if you prefer, a killer disguised as a scarecrow, and less Art the Clown.
Plot-wise, the film “Die’ced” includes quite a few scenes that may remind you of the other “Terrifier” films: the film takes place on Halloween, and its main character – who has a brother and a parent – dresses in a style that reminded me of Sienna, the great Final Girl from “Terrifier 2”. Certain scenes here seem to come out of the world of the “Terrify” films, such as the killer who follows the heroine and her friend into a café. Even though there’s no real contact between the protagonist and the villains in this scene, unlike the early “Terrify” films (warning: never take an insulting selfie with a scary clown), this scene ends with one of the best jokes in the film. It’s one of the rare moments where the killer seems to bring something new to the table, and it’s really refreshing.
Let art show you the way
Is this resemblance to the Terrifier really that bad? I don’t think so! First of all, as evidenced by the creators themselves and as we know, it is difficult to reinvent the wheel in horror films. Today, almost all films, except for a few that stand out for their originality, are based on or mention another earlier work.
For example, I’ve seen criticism in some horror Facebook groups that the opening titles resemble those of “Terrify” in their font and red font. On the other hand, as the creators mentioned in the same discussion, the style of these red titles appears in many horror films and has become a sort of convention of the genre. Even we on this website once wrote about why red is a scary color. Additionally, the dominant color of the “Horror World” logo and site design, as you might guess, is red… like blood.
Moreover, if thanks to the Terrifier films, independent filmmakers dream of having as much success as Art the Clown and reaching the general public, who are we to criticize this desire? As we wrote in the Art Clown movie review, the franchise went a very long way before Art became a familiar figure among horror fans, some would even say a horror icon in the making. In this process there were some fairly poor quality shorts, a bizarre anthology film and the first “Terrifier”, which suffered in my opinion from some of the problems that characterize low budget films (acting, cinematography, etc.). “Terrifier 2” was better in almost every aspect. Based on the first review of the just-released “Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey 2”, it seems that the sequel is much better than the mediocre first film, including in the physical appearance of the villains.
The principle is that each film has a higher budget than the previous one, and can therefore improve technically. Each film also gained a wider audience, allowing that circle to expand. If “Die’ced” continues to generate buzz, on and off social media, it could follow a similar path.
Should you see the movie Die’ced?
It won’t be until at least a few years from now that we’ll know if Die’ced, Benny, and Cass will receive the recognition their creators desire. In the meantime, the Rudd brothers should be appreciated, because they created a fun movie with a pretty successful villain and somehow brought him to the radar of many horror fans. More importantly, there’s potential to be developed here, both as film and horror creators, and I’ll be happy to see their next efforts.
You can watch “Die’ced” on Tubi or Amazon Prime Video.
