Burial Ground Massacre begins with a man, face unseen, applying war paint, and a mask, before picking up a tomahawk. On the soundtrack, we hear chanting and a monologue about the people’s covenant with the land before the white man arrived delivered by Michael Madsen (Angels Fallen, Red Handed). At that point, I had to stop and look it up, but he does actually have some Native American ancestry on his mother’s side, so I guess it’s legit for him to be talking about “our people” and “our land”.

Adrianna (Chelsea Vale, Black Wake) takes a long drive during which she sees a Native American girl at the side of the road and in the back of her car. Meanwhile, a couple who just had sex in a car are killed by the figure we saw in the prologue.

Speaking of parties, Chase’s (Blaise Serra, Pitching Tents) parents have just left for the weekend and he and Javon (Chris Whitcomb, Blood Circus) are about to throw one, the first people invited are Adrianna and Kayla (Brittany Toczko, The Manor). Can you guess what uninvited guest turns up?

As it so happens, Chase lives in a mansion built on an Indian burial ground, and among the artifacts his family has collected is a cursed ring that Chief Tocho (Christopher C. Romero, Killer Ink) blames for the loss of the land.

He’s hired Damon to get it back by any means necessary. Damon is played by Michael Madsen in some scenes when he’s masked up though he’s played by professional wrestler Vinny Marseglia and the difference is very noticeable. That’s not a spoiler BTW, the film’s own publicity, including the film’s poster, gives it away. And if they didn’t his monologue should have.

Burial Ground Massacre wears its 80s slasher influences proudly. There’s not just one but two pro wrestlers in the cast the other being Travis Gordon aka Flip Gordon who plays dumb jock Eddie who rationalizes cheating on Adrianna with “But that was in Cancun, it’s practically another country”. Frequent nudity including a topless woman (the body double for Sarah Elizabeth Jensen, Assault on VA-33) who takes an arrow between her breasts without the benefit of CGI. And, of course, the whole “Native American burial ground” plot device that was in everything from Poltergeist to Scalps.

Daniel Dahlstrom (Pinwheel) and David Gere take the script written by Gere and Eric Weinstock (Amish Abduction) and come up with a film that for its first hour is an unapologetic piece of horror exploitation. Then in the last act, it takes one hell of a swerve that doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. Burial Ground Massacre: Reborn has already been shot and is, according to IMDB, in post-production, Maybe after seeing it the end of this film will make sense, but as it stands it’s a seriously what the fuck way to end the film. And that includes the song playing over the film’s last few minutes.

Despite that, the first hour still makes Burial Ground Massacre worth watching if you need a slasher fix. Most of the kills are bloodless but still manage to be brutal, like slow asphyxiation from a plastic bag over the head. I suppose the film’s budget couldn’t manage multiple gore effects and pay the actresses extra for nudity. Given the plot, I wouldn’t have minded if they had one of the actresses keep her shirt on and given us a Maniac-style scalping though.

Burial Ground Massacre is currently in limited theatrical release, and available On Demand and on  Digital from VMI Worldwide. You can check their Facebook page for more information on it and a release date for Burial Ground Massacre: Reborn which I have to admit I do want to see.

Where to watch Burial Ground Massacre