Raymond did it

R Squared Films Inc.
2011

Raymond did it is an independent film that was directed, produced and written by Travis Legge.
The plot revolves around mentally challenged Raymond. Raymond is getting picked on and his brother Bryce tries to protect him. Bad girl Paige shoves Bryce and he ends up getting killed. Paige quickly invents a story to blame it on Raymond. Three others in the group go along with that idea. Only Tammy shows some compassion for Raymond. Fast forward six years and Raymond has been locked away for years and the rest of the group have kept the secret to themselves. As you can probably guess Raymond escapes and goes after all those responsible for causing him to be locked away. Obviously this film was influenced by the liked of Halloween and Prom Night. Even the score sounds kind of like Halloween. When I first saw the part when the characters as young teens I thought the acting was quite horrible. Fortunately their older counterparts are better with the acting ranging from acceptable to good. Lindsay Felton (Scream Queens) as Tammy is probably the top stand out as she is troubled by what happened and still feels sympathy for Raymond. Kyle Hoskins plays Raymond and even though he doesn't have many lines he handles his roll well enough plus and at six foot five and sporting a bulky frame he makes an imposing figure. The body count is fairly low and you get a few simple almost cheap killings, but some strange ones too. Raymond manages to turn a lawn mower, a washing machine, a bong and a shower curtain rod (yikes) all into lethal weapons. The effects and make-up on the more brutal killings is pretty well done. So the characters who set up Raymond all at one time or another drink, do drugs and have sex so traditional horror movie lets us know they'll get theirs soon. One aspect of the film I liked was that when the group finds out Raymond has escaped they don't panic too much. Instead lead by the always evil and selfish Paige, three of them plus Paige's dope head boyfriend decide prepare for Raymond and get him before he gets them. I liked the is aspect because it made me dislike them even more because they never felt remorse and they were going to put Raymond away for good. That plan almost works except of course they never make sure he's dead before tossing the body away and Raymond comes back angrier than before. So there are plenty of good points to this film, but there are some holes too. While the action parts and characters are generally good the dialog and pacing has some problems. A lot of the parts in between the action just felt like throwaway dribble that very little. There were times where characters rattle on while they sit on the couch. These parts don't advance the story nor do they add to the characters, but instead I got the impression that filmmaker Legge realized he needed to stretch the film some to get it to feature length. So even though he may have been chomping at the bit to bring Raymond in, Legge needed to pad the film some so he quickly scribbled how some nonsense and had the already unlikable characters chew on those lines for a while. My other major complaint *spoiler alert* involved the final confrontation between Raymond and Paige. Given that Raymond knew she was the leader behind framing him and how brutal the killings were on the others involved I expected Raymond to get his revenge in grand form. Instead Paige throws a fit, jumps Raymond and he breaks her neck in a not so believable fashion. That part could and should have been much better. Overall a decent film though. The ending leaves things open for a sequel so we'll see if that ever comes about. The DVD also includes a making , a trailer and Raymond's song.