Old Habits Die Hard (2009)

Review by Mari Lynne Rupp



Just when you thought YOUR family was effed up.....

This film, starring Jim O'Rear , Tricia Cast (Young and the Restless' Nina), Stacey Dixon (Shudder), and Kane Hodder, is a fantastic, fun little homage to Rob Zombie's Firefly family.

Written by Vaton Hadley, and directed by Ben Dixon The Hollis family, headed by Mama Hollis and big brother Jonah (Hodder) run a mortuary in a backwoods town, where, when things are slow, brother Jonah, and sister Allison (Dixon) drum some business up in the guise of bringing home unsuspecting gentlemen out for a good time, and giving them a bloody ending to the evening. Allison gets a yearning for life outside the family, and runs off to the big city, only to be dragged back by Jonah. She embraces the family life for a while, but then the life of cat-and-mouse once again starts to turn sour for her, she starts to make plans of another escape.

As a former "Young and Restless" fan, it was really fun to see Tricia Cast outside her usual melodramatic roles, and get down-and-dirty as homicidal, cannibalistic Mama Hollis as she chops, cooks, feeds and 'lays some lovin' on some of the towns deceased. She also gives some background on the Hollis family and especially Emily, the younger sister who spends her time in the family basement.

Jim O'Rear as Rendle, the craziest brother I've seen since Bill Moseley's Otis Driftwood, keeps the audience on the edge with his frequent personality switches, going from fun-loving pirate to sadistic killer in the bat of an eyelash.

Kane Hodder, as ever, fantastic as Jonah, who goes about his grisly work with resolve and possibly a bit of panache, a big step up from the bland BTK killer from 2008 film. Don't get me wrong, Kane was great in that movie too, as much as he could be...But BTK couldn't even touch Jonah when it came to style and love of the job. The beautiful Stacey Dixon gets some acting diversity as she goes from innocent office girl to sadistic killer and back to redeeming her family.

Watching this film was just really fun for me....Seeing Tricia Cast and Kane Hodder acting together, two people from the '80's I never EVER thought I'd see paired up was too awesome for me.

The DVD also boasts some behind-the scenes features and director/writer/actor commentary. All in all, a fine package worth checking into. Especially if you're tired of watching "House of 1000 Corpses", but still want some crazy homicidal family action! 7/10