The Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival opens with this home invasion thriller. Kylie Winters (Alysa King) is a high schooler, who finds herself the victim of vicious bullying, after a compromising video involving her and a boy named Marcus (Aaron Chartrand) leaks. Despite having this incident on her mind, Kylie agrees to travel to an isolated mansion in the country and babysit the children of Glen Harrison (Robert Nolan). However, in the middle of this Halloween night, Kylie and the kids find themselves terrorized by a trio of individuals wearing pig masks. Berkshire County is a home invasion thriller, which comes across as a mix between the isolation of The Strangers and the animal masks of You’re Next. Undoubtedly, the most memorable aspect of the film are the pig masks that the invaders wear, which are quite well designed. Berkshire County is pretty effective at delivering the tension, as Kylie struggles to survive the night, with seemingly no one around to help, except for a helpful 911 operator named Roberta (Samora Smallwood), who guides her through the situation. As with many home invasion thrillers, this is a seemingly random attack, which makes the events all the more tense. One element of Berkshire County that doesn’t really work is the set-up of the film, in which Kylie is humiliated for unwittingly recording a sex tape with a unlikeable jerk of a boy named Marcus. While this does set up the need for Kylie to be able to stand up for herself, it’s a subplot that comes off as little more than unnecessary filler. There are many better ways that Kylie’s self-loathing could’ve been established. That said, despite all that, Berkshire County is still an OK enough home invasion thriller, with its iconic-looking villains and decent tension. 7 | FAIR Screenings:
- Friday November 28, 7:00 PM – Carlton Cinema
- Friday November 28, 9:45 PM – Carlton Cinema