DVD Release Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I enjoy watching films from WWE Studios. No matter how bad they may be, I can usually find something about them to like or be interested in. Oftentimes, it’s the performance of the WWE superstar amongst the cast that I find most memorable aspect of the WWE Studios filmography.
So then, what do I do with “Barricade,” which stars exactly zero members of the WWE roster? The answer is, not much. This is standard, bottom-of-the-barrel, straight-to-DVD horror movie nonsense. Ranking near the bottom of the WWE Studios output is no small feat, but that’s where this turkey lies.
Eric McCormack (Will of “Will & Grace”) stars as Terrance Shade, a psychiatrist forced to deal with the sudden death of his wife, Leah (Jody Thompson). Flashbacks show that Terrance was the kind of dad who wasn’t available to change diapers and things of that nature, so being alone with his kids Cynthia (Conner Dwelly) and Jake (Ryan Grantham) is kind of his own personal horror movie.
The Shad family travels to a remote cabin in the woods (no, not THAT Cabin in the Woods) for some (hopeful) bonding. Once they get there, a massive blizzard hits and cabin fever (not THAT Cabin Fever) sets in. Then some weird stuff starts happening. And that’s all it is – just stuff. It’s not interesting, and director Andrew Currie (“Fido”) and screenwriter Michaelbrent Collings (“Darkroom”) don’t really have any tricks up his sleeve that haven’t been done many times over. They even make sure to have the stock character that remembers the children when they were little, in this case Sheriff Howes (Donnelly Rhodes).
As the weird things are happening, Terrance is drinking and medicating himself heavily. He has a cough, and fever. Is he suffering delusions? Is he going crazy? Does any of it matter?
As I watched this, my mind kept wandering, thinking about how much better this would’ve been with a token appearance from a WWE wrestler. Maybe Goldust could’ve played Sheriff Howes?
Score: *½
