TRIGGERED is a new horror movie with a delicious retro vibe. It takes place in the present but has a very 90’s vibe in terms of style and somewhat stereotyped characters. Nothing is to be taken too seriously, but this isn’t really a horror-comedy either.

In fact, it blends the horror, thriller, actions, and comedy elements very effortlessly. Everything you want from mindless entertainment that almost falls into the “feel-good”-category with the current state of the world.

The plot of Triggered is super simple and this is exactly why it works. Basically, it’s a survival horror action movie and this describes what happens in this story; A lot of people struggle to survive while being faced with increasingly difficult choices.

Or rather, to some of these characters it’s a struggle while others discover that they kinda enjoy getting to slaughter their high school friends. And no, the characters are not in high school, but they have been friends since high school. Part of the concept is how we sometimes hang on to people from the past even though we have nothing in common.

Of course, this is also why some of the characters in Triggered end up having a blast with the situation they’re in.

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Alastair Orr is the director of Triggered and this is the fifth feature film in the horror genre. He also directed House on Willow Street (2016) and Indigenous (2014), but this latest movie is definitely my favorite of his so far. Maybe it’s due to the use of dark comedy, which is always a plus for me when dealing with slasher horror movies.

David D. Jones is listed as the screenwriter on IMDb and this is his feature film debut as a screenwriter. With this script for a debut, I have high hopes for what he might bring in the future.

The only reason Triggered doesn’t get a solid 4 out of 5 review is because it runs a bit too long in the final half. A good ten minutes off the runtime and it would have been much tighter. The total runtime is only an hour and a half, so it’s at that classic sweet-spot for most horror movies.

It does deserve 3½ though, so keep that in mind when debating whether to watch it or not. And really, we definitely recommend this movie if you like classic horror slasher with a campy (pun intended) vibe.

While humor isn’t very obvious during the first part of Triggered, it does become increasingly prevalent as the violence and slasher elements are amped up. From lines such as “That’s the herpes talking!” to the classic spewing of hard truths when faced with killing or getting killed.

The cast of Triggered work extremely well and seem to be having a lot of fun, which is another huge bonus for this movie. Also, I should mention that the effects are really good. If CGI is used in this horror movie, then I didn’t notice it. Instead, when people are blown up (and several are), it looks like good old practical effects.

Finally, I was surprised by how the characters managed to evolve for me during this very short time span. Some of the characters were real dirtbags from the beginning and while some turned out to be better, others were much worse than first anticipated.

TRIGGERED (2020) is out On Digital and On Demand from November 6, 2020.