The Barn of the Naked Dead (1974)

Mean and Ugly, 4 May 2006

My, oh my! I feel like I've entered one of the seven layers of Hell. Barn of the Naked Dead is one of the worst examples of "filmmaking" I've run into. A serious critique of the movie would be ridiculous and making fun of the technical aspects of the film or much of the acting is so easy that I'll not even bother. Instead, I'll limit this to a brief comment on the plot – or lack thereof. Barn of the Naked Dead literally has no coherent plot. A few story ideas pieced together with scenes of unnecessary violence do not make for a plot. Take a look at the kind of films I like and you'll quickly see that I'm not squeamish when it comes to violence on screen, but it needs a context. Otherwise, it's just mean and ugly. Without a plot, the violence in Barn of the Naked Dead feels like that – mean and ugly.

If Barn of the Naked Dead has one saving grace that keeps it from sinking to the absolute bottom of the heap, it's Andrew Prine. While I'll never understand some of his professional decisions, he always comes across to me as a very capable and interesting actor. I've yet to be disappointed with him, just some of the movies he made.

2/10