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Villisca

Play trailer 1:46 Villisca Released Jan 20, 2017 1h 18m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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14% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 14% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
On a June night in 1912, eight people -- a mother, father, their four children, and two guests -- were murdered by an axe-wielding killer in the sleepy town of Villisca, Iowa, a case that remains unsolved to this day. More than a century later, Caleb and Denny, two friends who share an interest in ghost hunting, along with Jess -- the new girl in school who already has a reputation -- sneak into the house where the infamous bloodbath occurred in hopes of recording paranormal activity.
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Villisca

Critics Reviews

View All (7) Critics Reviews
Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com The Axe Murders of Villisca never comes alive, and as such no matter how much potential as a filmmaker I think Valenzuela might possess, watching this film proves to be nothing more than a serious waste of time. Rated: 1.5/4 Mar 16, 2017 Full Review Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter Devolves into typical teen-oriented, supernatural horror. Jan 25, 2017 Full Review Noel Murray Los Angeles Times "The Axe Murders of Villisca" never really comes to much, perhaps because its focus is too diffuse. The scares are low, and the plot under-baked. Jan 19, 2017 Full Review Damond Fudge KCCI (Des Moines, IA) The Axe Murders of Villisca has little to do with the actual axe murders of Villisca...It's more interested in being a standard haunted house tale than a study of a tragic small town horror. Jul 17, 2020 Full Review Emilie Black Cinema Crazed The film is decently acted and entertaining, but not exactly reinventing the haunted house wheel or even using that fact to its best potential result ... Rated: 2.5/5 Apr 18, 2020 Full Review Matt Donato We Got This Covered The Axe Murders Of Villisca is too familiar a haunted house story to be anything more than generic. Rated: 4/10 Jan 22, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (18) audience reviews
Timothy P This movie is pointless. I don't mind bad horror movies, sometimes that's what makes them fun, but there is no excuse for being boring. And the cast is annoying. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 10/31/24 Full Review Audience Member I don’t ever turn off a movie once I start it because anything can be entertaining even if it’s bad. But this movie was just bad. A standard possession from a haunted house story. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/09/21 Full Review Audience Member You don't even have to research the original Villisca case, to know how this movie basically has little to NOTHING to do with the actual murder story. Why? Because this movie is literally your typical teen slasher flick BS you've seen MANY times before. So it's as predictable, corny, and cliche as they come. The worst parts are definitely the laughably boring dialogue, bland characters, and bad acting. In a more interesting move, they actually decided to have a jock-like character be the paranormal fanatic (with a matching spooky ringtone too) instead of the new girl that looks borderline goth, but even that's giving the movie too much praise. This was just downright awful from IFC, who normally give you WATCHABLE horror films, even if they're crap. I wouldn't even recommend this if you wanted to kill time, unless you enjoy torturing yourself. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member It's better than I expected, considering some of the others reviews. It's shot well, and the lead actors did a good job. It's not some stupid paranormal shot on video point of view. The special effects are average, or less, for a low budget film. But, the editing and layering are creative. The first 30 minutes are a longer introduction to the story and the characters, rather than just jumping right into endless running, screaming, and horror sequences. The last 45 minutes are interesting, unusual, and not so straight forward, which I liked. The back stories are also ok. Yes, the actors are young adults, not college age, let alone high school age, but that's typical. And the ending is not entirely unexpected. If you're looking for real horror, there were no jump scares, let alone real scares. But, all in all it was alright. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Gave up after watching halfway. Felt it was a waste of time Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie puts the "horror" in HORRIBLE! Worst mobie I've seen in ages and a total waste of my time. Could have been way scarier but the storyline was all over the place, the theatrics were tacky/cheesy, and the ending was Vado vague yet doesn't even make me wonder what happens. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Villisca

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Movie Info

Synopsis On a June night in 1912, eight people -- a mother, father, their four children, and two guests -- were murdered by an axe-wielding killer in the sleepy town of Villisca, Iowa, a case that remains unsolved to this day. More than a century later, Caleb and Denny, two friends who share an interest in ghost hunting, along with Jess -- the new girl in school who already has a reputation -- sneak into the house where the infamous bloodbath occurred in hopes of recording paranormal activity.
Director
Tony E. Valenzuela
Producer
Seth Caplan, Michael Wormser
Screenwriter
Owen Egerton
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Ketchum Labs, IFC Films
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 20, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 6, 2017
Runtime
1h 18m
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