Hold the Fort had its world premiere on July 16 as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival.

Herbert Gruber (Mark Ashworth) sets down a box of “Shoot ‘Em Dead” shotgun shells and hands his wife Mable (Devney Nixon) a wooden stake. Herb insists that nothing could convince him to sell his family’s land. Over his dead body, and all that. “Nothing’s takin’ my land,” Herb says. Then, he arms himself for a night full of a cryptid sort of self-defense.

William Bagley’s Hold the Fort is a broad horror comedy centering on the new tenants of Gruber Hills. Following Herb apparently not making it through the night, the suburb has a new home for sale. Lucas (Chris Mayers) and Jenny (Haley Leary) arrive to the warm welcome of the HOA representative (Julian Smith), who informs them of the portal that annually sends through a bevy of folkloric creatures into the town. Witches, werewolves, and “the stick man” are all on the table, and it is up to the suburbanites to defend their home until dawn.

The matter-of-fact-ness by which the townsfolk explain their horrific charge is a serviceable punchline, but it also tips its hand as to just how slight the plot will be. Aside from dramatizing a horror-themed tower defense video game, the film introduces a room full of colorful characters, all of whom get by on charismatically delivered expletives and a generally ugly demeanor. The script has only the briefest of first acts to set these characters up before unleashing a group of high-speed witches on the party. And once the mayhem starts, the characters are basically indistinguishable from each other, save for the designated hero figure, McScruffy. (You will probably easily predict from how McScruffy is hyped up by the townsfolk what his actual role will be…his repeated inaction within the plot is one of the movie’s better bits).

I admire the panache of Hold the Fort. Most horror comedies tend to either skirt the line between the two or go full parody. Seeing one that attempts truly broad comedy within the framing of an original horror conceit is refreshing. And while the storytelling lacks the requisite depth needed to keep the whole thing hanging together, discrete instances of comedy work just fine. Personally, I would find the whole thing more funny if most of the scripted jokes weren’t predicated on “ironic” 1980s action movie one-liners, bad puns, and people calling each other “bitch” for no reason. I prefer the obscenely exaggerated pratfalls and the cast’s over-dramatic delivery of all the lines.

On a final note, I have to commend the visual effects accomplished on what I imagine is a minuscule budget. There’s one creature design in the final act that looks good enough that one could manufacture an entire film around it.

Hold the Fort: C+

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As always, thanks for reading!

—Alex Brannan (Letterboxd, Facebook)