Movie Review: The Family Business (2024)

The Family Business Movie Review by Matt Boiselle

The Family Business: Directed by Joe Hollow and Wolfgang Meyer, written by Joe Hollow and starring Mark Hanson, Katie Parker, Tony Todd, Michael Berryman and Kane Hodder

Synopsis: The Family Business is about a demented clan of lunatics whose sole mission is to create the greatest snuff film ever put down on record.

Review:

Every family at one time or another in their existence is looking for that “defining” moment: be it raising a next-level sports hero, or claiming to have a notable breadwinner in their midst, such as a doctor, lawyer or politician… then there are those households that are simply content to torture, hack, slash and mentally pollute the innocent while recording all of it for posterity. In “The Family Business” from the co-directorial tag-team of Joe Hollow (also writer & actor here) and Wolfgang Meyer, we’re strapped down in the big chair with our eyes duct-taped open to ocularly ingest the seedy wrongdoings of brothers Jacob and Jonathan whose filmmaking talents include the depraved actions that you’d find inside the world’s most reprehensible snuff films, and their audience is cash-heavy in the pockets and not afraid to shell it out when content with the results. With the local law enforcement on their sizable payroll just in case things need to be conveniently ignored, the brothers bait unsuspecting visitors to a supposedly haunted penitentiary for some down-home spookin’, and then unleash their own brand of misery upon them…oh, tourism be damned!

Now, with any potential business on the rise there can be ebbs and flows with production, and after some time once the brothers’ resources begin to get a bit on the skinny side, their forced to reassemble their deranged collective brainpans and come up with a new roadmap for degradation…and this begins to show some cracks in the foundation (that’s putting it lightly). Hollow and Meyer wasted no means, employing the usage of some massively heavy hitters in the world of horror, with Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder and the late, great Tony Todd all lighting up the screens in their respective roles…and can we PLEASE not omit the simply devilish work of the devastatingly scene-stealing psycho-babe, Devanny Pinn? Her depiction of Rebecca is exactly the certifiably med-stamped injection of “unhinged kook” that this movie needed to put it over the top. Believe me when I tell you that there is no wasted energy in this pic – it’s designed to make you feel uneasy, and it accomplishes its goals in excess with a raw, unfiltered look to it and unrepentant storytelling that will have even the most picky of horror fans clenching their fists in ghoulish delight.

Overall, “The Family Business” certainly isn’t for the pedestrian, commonplace fan of the genre, but Hollow & Meyer have brought something to the screen that isn’t ashamed to be as polished as a large-market, big screen release, but where’s the fun in that? Sometimes you just have to take a nice big ol’ roll in the muck and mire and satiate your inner terror-filled urges – make sure to give this one a look, then douse yourself in ample quantities of antibacterial solution when complete.

The Family Business is currently available to watch on Tubi TV.