Horror Movie Review: A Hard Place (2025)

A Hard Place is a new horror film from director J. Horton, who co-wrote the story with Michael J. Epstein. It stars Felissa Rose, Lynn Lowry, Rachel A. Bryant, and Ashley Undercuffler.

I liked J. Horton’s previous film, Craving, so when the director sent over a screener for A Hard Place, I was excited. Especially when the basic plot outline sounds so epic and it has some really notable horror names in prominent roles. Is it actually any good though?

Good news! It is. It’s not perfect, there’s some glaring issues, but come the end, it does leaves a sense of satisfaction.

A group of criminals, having really messed up, must lay low, so when they come across a remote farm, they decide to use that as their hideout. Which turns out to be one hell of a big mistake. Not only is this home to some really unusual ‘redneck’ style characters, but they’ve stumbled into a war. An ancient war between creatures that roam the day and monsters that rule night. The two sides are locked in battle, and anyone caught in between risks being killed, and there is a lot of killing going on here.

It helps that there are so many characters that killing a ton off is easy, especially as many are just fodder for either a creature, a monster, and/or someone feeling a bit trigger happy. A Hard Place isn’t shy when it comes to blood and guts. However, this brings me to the film’s biggest issue and it’s the fact that there are so many characters it becomes impossible to pay attention to anyone, outside of the major players, and it becomes even harder to care about them. I know we all want a body count, and to get that, we need characters who can be killed, but A Hard Place goes a bit too far with it.

Although I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being thoroughly entertained by the chaos that comes with the ‘all out’ war at the end. This is one of those situations where you must decide what you want to be entertained by. Deep and developed characters? Or heads exploding?

Though that’s not to suggest some characters aren’t given stuff to work with, and the likes of Ashley Undercuffler gets to do a bit more, alongside another excellent Felissa Rose performance as Henrietta, a matriarch of sorts. In fact, as far as acting goes, I have very few complaints. Especially as those who are a bit more wooden are killed off in rapid fashion.

It’s all about the creatures and the monsters, two distinct groups that skirt the line between good and evil. This isn’t a battle between heaven and hell, it’s just the way it is, and while the film does take a little too long to showcase either side, once we do get going, it’s exciting stuff. Especially as the effects, particularly of the creatures (called Guardians) look great, and when the red stuff starts to flow, it flows hard.

A bit neater, story wise, a slimmed down cast, and a peppier start, and we’d be talking about A Hard Place in a much more positive way. However, that doesn’t mean what we have isn’t enjoyable, because it is. It’s silly, violent, intense, and very gory. Sometimes that is all anyone wants from a horror film!