Fender Bender

Slooooow slasher at a house in New Mexico during a storm

A teenage girl (Makenzie Vega) is rearended by a creepy man (Bill Sage) whereupon they exchange information. Big mistake.

“Fender Bender” (2016) is a professionally-made traditional slasher harkening back to seminal slashers of the 70s, like “Home for the Holidays,” “Savage Weekend” and “Halloween” (the first two were made well before the more popular latter). Unfortunately, writer/director, Mark Pavia, ignored pacing, particularly in the first 50 minutes. Scenes are unnecessarily padded and therefore tedious. He was no doubt shooting for unnerving mood and successful to a point.

Things don't pick up and get slightly interesting until the last 38 minutes or so, but not enough to overcome this fatal flaw. The film would’ve worked better at 1 hour, 14 minutes, which is the length of “Home for the Holidays,” but it regrettably runs another 17 minutes (for a total of 91 minutes). Then there’s the annoying “gay” character.

To its credit, the ending is unexpected.

The movie was shot in New Mexico.

GRADE: C- (4.5/10)