Some of you may be familiar with the character Thorn from my previous review of MJ Dixon’s Slasher House (2012). Legacy of Thorn (LoT) takes place before the incidents in Slasher House and you could probably say that LoT explains some of the reasoning behind how Thorn ends up there.

Our tale begins in the peaceful town of Avondale. A town of the future I suppose, in a Milton Keynes stylee.

It’s February 29th 2012, a leap year. It’s said that February originally had 30 days but two days were taken away by the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, who was just a little peeved that his month of August only had 29 days. What a diva! I myself act like a diva every February 29th waiting by the phone for ladies to call me, proposing marriage to me. Doesn’t happen does it?! Sorry, I’m veering off from our film. Let me continue with what I was saying…

Thorn is on the look out for our main lead Jess. He appears to have a hidden agenda to have her by any means necessary and he doesn’t care who or what stands in his way.

He will ensure that any obstacle is sliced and diced much like you would prepare a sunday roast. He has a particular hunger for young nubile cheerleader types. I couldn’t help but be captivated by Jess at times when she bent down in what appeared to be shorts which are about two sizes too small for her. There was always a chance that at some point the shorts would rip and both cheeks would be displayed for all the horror world to see.

Jess and her friends have managed to evade Thorn on his last escapade 4 years earlier, but this time Thorn means business. He is not happy, no sir, and appears to have superhuman powers too, which doesn’t help Jess and her friends, who do their best to stop him by any means necessary. Will Jess live to tell the tale or will she be turned into a four course meal fit for a king?

The first thing that struck a chord with me about LoT is that it’s a film which makes you think about what you’re watching. A lot of horror films will just pile on the gore and the scares, but LoT darts between different time lines in order to explain the basis behind Thorn and the reasoning behind his pursuit of our young heroine. I was puzzled at the American style of the school clothes that the cast were wearing, but I believe the reasoning behind this is to appeal to a mass market. If British school clothing was used by the cast it may have made them look too British to appeal to other horror markets outside of the U.K. Smart move MJ Dixon.

Director Dixon again uses clever use of lighting and colours to bring about darkness and atmosphere to the story. There appears to be a lot to explain in the film and it would have been nice in my opinion to maybe have just a little more background to Thorn’s existence and the creation of Thorn as a monster. Aside from this I thoroughly enjoyed the film and would recommend it to fans of slasher movies and of course fans of Slasher House. You won’t be disappointed and I honestly believe this is an improvement on Slasher House. Whilst Slasher House was confined virtually to the one set, LoT has more air to breathe and explores not only it’s school setting, but outside locations and home environments too – something Slasher House didn’t have the opportunity to pursue.

I would recommend watching Legacy of Thorn in the dark, with some popcorn and some sodas. It will at times have you on the edge of your seat as you wait for Thorn to appear out of nowhere and dismember another cast member. It certainly made me jump a few times.

Legacy Of Thorn can ordered via http://legacyofthorn.com/

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