RATING: C-

Uncork’d Entertainment and presents a IF/High Rise Studios/Latefox Pictures production in association with Chronovisor Images. Directed and Edited by Gabriel Carrer. Produced by Gabriel Carrer, Andy Wolting, John Ainslie, Matthew Ninabar, and Dave McLeod. Written by Dave McLeod. Cinematography by Andy Wolting.

Stars Kristen Kaster, Matthew Ninabar, Wes Ball, Sasha Ormond, Justin Bott, Matt Daciw, and James Fler. 

A mysterious killer targets those responsible for the death of a young woman in this Canadian horror film. 

It all started with an accident. Two young women were hurt in an accident. Abby survived, but her sister had died. Eddy, a member of an elite family, the Sullivans, had seen Abby’s sister fight for her life before killing her. His mother, Caterina, tells their attorney about the issue and expects him to find a way to make sure it doesn’t get out. Soon enough, this sets off a chain of events when Luca, an investigative journalist and former cop, is asked by Caterina to get information from Abby.

When Luca meets Abby, who is in recovery and sustained crippling injuries, he tries to get an understanding of what exactly happened that fateful night. Meanwhile, the Sullivans and their associates are hunted down by a mysterious killer riding a motorcycle. As the family gets picked off one by one, Abby and Luca have learned about the killer and attempt to decipher who the killer could possibly be. They soon learn that the killer may be closer than they think. 

There are great horror films from our neighbor to the North. When one think of Canuxploitation, they think of excellent filmmakers like Steven Kostanski, The Soska Sisters, and Lowell Dean to name a few. They have the ability to make good stories mixed in with an abundance of horror-style violence and gore that will please genre fans. Then, there are films which start out promising and offer interesting concepts but whose only good factor are the kill scenes (looking at you, Aquaslash). 

This film, from director Gabriel Carrer, falls in that category where it’s good plot, mishmashed story. It attempts to be in the vein of a modern day giallo film. However, Dave McLeod’s script tends to get wonky at times and a bit confusing. It doesn’t take away the performances through, especially Kristen Kaster as Abby and Matthew Ninabar (Psycho Goreman himself!) as Luca. The other characters seem like the archetype of victims you’re going to expect in the film, a nouveau-riche family who attempts to cover up and deny responsibility for Abby’s sister’s death.

As mentioned, the film’s highlight is the bloody kill scenes. The motorcycle-riding killer reminds me of the 1989 film Nightmare Beach, but instead of an electric chair back seat, unloads using their bike to decapitate one victim, disembowel another, and lots of stabbings. The ending has a bit of predictability while attempting to have a last minute twist mixed in perhaps to elevate it. 

Death Cycle is overall a disappointment in the vein of Aquaslash, an attempt to have a good story mixed with gore-ific kills, but only the kills were the good thing aside from the performances of Kristen Kaster and Matthew Ninabar, who made the most of what they had to work with. Other than that, it’s pretty much a one-watch here.