Opening (and later, closing-) credits date the setting of this 2020 blaxploitation homage to the early 1970's, with clothing, transistor radio and reference to the 'new' Disneyworld to make sure we didn't miss it, but really the story is timeless. With only one car and one building on screen, this could have been anytime 1965 to the present.
Three siblings, with strong family bonds but significantly different life paths, end up at an isolated farm building, where they run into a clichéd band of Klansmen - a strong leader but weak and not too bright followers. One of the family rescues a woman (who then disappears without trace) from the Klan, and they have to fight their way out.
Not too many ideas, but some neat inversions: the bad guy throws dirt in the antihero's face; the female sibling is the most ruthless and most effective; a white man dies first and at least one black character survives to the end.
Slightly lacking in ideas, so some of the more personal violence is repeated with only slight changes - an eye bitten out after an ear earlier, two separate hands thrust into gunshot wounds - but there is enough gore and ingenuity to keep us entertained.
I wondered how many actors were involved, or whether crew members stood in. Only eight characters show their faces, while most keep hoods on. One Klansman walks like a young woman, while most never speak or do anything but shoot and turn their heads - hardly Juilliard standard. Continuity is not great, dialogue is barely comprehensible for the first twenty minutes, and some behaviours beggar belief - standing upright behind a waist-high fence to reload while being fired on? Overall, though, a terrific low-budget thriller with shocks, cringes and laughs aplenty. Well worth the 78 minutes it takes.
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