It's not entirely fair to call every ultra low-budget and knowingly stupid film Troma-esque, but that's where my brain goes. Troma with a dense Canadian filter is probably how I would describe Blood Riders: The Devil Rides with Us. Even though there's a lot of tasteless humor and cheap gore, it's a bit more good-natured then I would expect from a wacky low budget horror-comedy.
Janek and Kyle (I think I have the names right) are buddies - they're pretty good guys, but are sick of being treated badly by their peers. So, as you do when you want respect, they attempt to steal a car. But they are interrupted by Dane and Zoey (two "cool kids") and try to walk away. But Dane harasses them, and in order to show him up they successfully steal a *different* car. And the four not-really-friends go for a little joyride. However, when they go to ditch the car out in the woods they find a dead body in the trunk. Zoinks!
Instead of calling the cops and incriminating themselves, they decide "we're all in this together" and try to get rid of the body. One of Janek's friends is a supposed tough guy with some criminal experience, so they call him up. But when he gets there, he freaks out, tries to dip, trips, and takes a sharp stick through the mouth, killing him instantly. Doh! FYI - this is not presented as tragic. Blood Riders is the kind of movie where our friends accidentally kill someone and you expect to hear a wacky "Wah-Waaaah" on the soundtrack. It's all treated very lightly and (supposedly) comedically. Things escalate, the body count rises, and eventually our friends are thrust into a crazy adventure where they (supposedly) comedically cross paths with Nazis, Satanists, and Nazi-Satanists!
So, the constant "(supposedly)" is probably a bit harsh. I did find Blood Riders to be a little clever and definitely chuckled on several occasions. The recurring jokes mostly work, and the comedy doesn't (always) revolve around being un-PC and "shocking." There's still some grating stuff here, but when I hit play and saw the obvious low-budget and realized it was going to be (ahem) Troma-esque, I expected much worse.
The production values and acting are not what you'd call good. But Blood Riders heart seems to be mostly in the right place, so it's easy to give that stuff a pass. And there's no horrible miscues/mistakes or anything - it's just a low-budget film, and it looks/sounds like one.
The production values and acting are not what you'd call good. But Blood Riders heart seems to be mostly in the right place, so it's easy to give that stuff a pass. And there's no horrible miscues/mistakes or anything - it's just a low-budget film, and it looks/sounds like one.
Horror-wise? Blood Riders is too much of a comedy to really have any impact as a horror film. Most of the violence and kills are played for laughs. So while there is some blood and some cult activity, it never feels tense, and there is a lack of any real Big Bad. Our heroes just kind of amble from one wacky situation to the next, meeting a variety of bizarre characters, who usually aren't around for long enough to ever truly get on your nerves. But the plot pretty much just exists as a reason to get them from one place to another, rather than being a part of a story that feels organic or escalates in a believable way.
So yeah, not a lot else to say about Blood Riders: The Devil Rides with Us (other than the fact that the devil is not in fact a character here). But if that title doesn't scare you away and you're up for some Troma-esque shenanigans, you could do worse.
I would halfheartedly recommend this film.
I would halfheartedly recommend this film.
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