Redneck County Fever (2001)

One of the frequent areas where I find bad movies is the world of low budget filmmaking.  Mainstream movies with big budgets tend to be mostly bad in the writing area.  They’re competently made, which doesn’t usually make for bad movie fun.  When you get into low budget movies, you tend to find ludicrous stories told by people who don’t have the same competency of someone with a bigger budget and better resources.  There’s also an area beyond low budget called micro budget.  This is where people with a desire to make movies, but only a couple thousand dollars create something.  The stories range from non-existent to interesting, but the technical side of things tends to be lacking.  That’s where I went this week.

Redneck County Fever is a mysterious movie.  IMDb has it listed as coming out in 2001.  My DVD case has it listed as 2001.  But there are no credits in the movie to confirm that.  There are no credits to confirm who was in it either.  I was able to figure out who one actor was and that’s only because of the case.  What I know for sure is that Redneck County Fever wasn’t made in 2001.  The fashion tells me that it was made in the 1990s, most likely the earlier half of the decade.  Why was this released in 2001 and not earlier?  I do not know, just like I don’t know a whole lot about the movie.

If you haven’t figured it out, I rarely take notes when I watch movies.  Usually, I reference IMDb for character and actor names if I forget.  I can’t do that with Redneck County Fever.  Since there is so little actually known about the movie, there is no cast/character listing on IMDb.  Therefore, I’m going to make up descriptions for the characters.  Some of these might seem offensive.  Anyway, the main two guys will be White Guy and Black Guy since one of them is white and one of them is black.  I will also mention Lady Character, Cop Man, Crazy Man, Mr. Mechanic, and Car Guy.  Those are my totally original character names.  Oh, and Bob.  There was a guy whose name I think was Bob.  I’m not sure.  I’m going to call him Bob.

This post will go in the direction of my usual format.  I’m going to discuss the movie based on its different sections, shortly describe them, and try not to spoil too much for you guys.  I spoiled enough with some of the more recent posts.  I don’t need to do that all the time.  There were five main parts to Redneck County Fever.  I’ll skip the last part so as to not ruin the ending for anyone hoping to watch it.  The movie isn’t that entertaining, though, so I wouldn’t worry too much about seeking it out.  Here’s why.

The Beginning

White Guy and Black Guy drove down a country road in what I can only assume was Texas.  The car broke down, leaving them stranded.  They got a ride from Lady Character into a small town because she knew the mechanic and wanted to help them get on their way.  Their final destination was home for Thanksgiving, though there was never really anything more specific.  Mr. Mechanic said he wouldn’t help them because they didn’t have enough money.  That sums up the first part of Redneck County Fever.

The story wasn’t the only important aspect of the movie’s beginning.  There were visual clues that hinted at the movie having been made well before 2001.  The fashion of the characters, particularly White Guy and Black Guy, looked right out of the early 1990s.  Zubaz pants and clothing like that were all over the characters.  There was also the small detail of the cars.  There wasn’t anything new, even by 2001 standards.  Everything looked a decade old, pointing toward Redneck County Fever being made around 1991.

One other thing that should be mentioned is that White Guy spoke like he was doing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle impression.  It wouldn’t have been a surprise for him to say “tubular” or “radical” or even “cowabunga.”  Each word could have come out of White Guy’s mouth and it wouldn’t have felt out of place.  It was a style of speaking inherently of the 80s and 90s, not of the 2001 release date.

The Delivery

Saddened by the fact that Mr. Mechanic wouldn’t help, White Guy and Black Guy walked around the small town.  A man named Bob found them and offered them a quick job.  He gave them a package and let them borrow a car to deliver it to a neighbouring town.  They would earn enough money to buy their repairs if they finished the job.  While driving, White Guy and Black Guy picked up a stranded driver, who happened to be Cop Man.  He said that the car was stolen and demanded to look at the package.  It was drugs.  White Guy and Black Guy escaped Cop Man and ran into the woods, ending the delivery section of the movie.

This was the point when the movie went into its strange, “why is this happening” mode.  Having the characters get involved in a drug plot was interesting.  The weird direction that it went with the characters immediately getting caught and the movie then giving up on that story thread was what made little sense.  There was no follow through until the final portion that I won’t be writing about.  It came, it went away, and it was ignored for the majority of the movie.

The Most Dangerous Game

If you know anything about the most dangerous game, you’ll probably know where this part of the movie went.  White Guy and Black Guy fled from Cop Man and headed through the woods.  During their long trek, they encountered Crazy Man.  This man was a cannibal and captured the two stranded travellers for food.  They convinced him that it would be more fun if he hunted them instead of simply eating them.  The thrill of the kill is better than simple sustenance.  He cut them free and tried to hunt them before being subdued.  They escaped to the road.

Crazy Man was the best performance in Redneck County Fever.  He put in all the effort possible to make himself seem crazy.  The actor was having tons of fun.  This was also the best section of the movie.  Though I’m not a huge fan of movies set in the woods, the whole concept of The Most Dangerous Game is one of my few exceptions.  The whole idea is that man begins hunting man because they want intelligent prey.  The predator and prey works better for me than monsters, and the threat feels more immediate and perilous.  Perhaps it’s because the story isn’t dependant on the wooded setting.  It’s about escaping the hunter.  It worked decently this time, but was another part in a movie that changed stories quicker than a baby changes diapers.

The Friendly Driver

When Black Guy and White Guy escaped from Crazy Guy’s human hunting ways, they encountered Car Guy.  He was a friendly gentleman who offered them a ride back to their car.  He said he would help them fix their car for $200.  That was all the money they had.  When they got to the car, Car Guy took out a bible and began a prayer.  While praying, and after they paid him, he ran back to his car and took off without fixing their car.

This part played out exactly how I expected.  The friendly guy was actually a greedy, lying thief.  It wasn’t too long of a mini story in Redneck County Fever, but an important one all the same.  It took the characters to their lowest point.  In terms of money, that is.  Obviously the whole escaping from a guy who was hunting them was direr.  But losing their money was the point where they realized that there was no hope.  It was at that point that Black Guy and White Guy knew they couldn’t escape the small town.  Of course, things changed in the final portion of the movie.

Redneck County Fever was, more than anything, a series of stories involving the same characters.  There was an overall story thread tying things together.  White Guy and Black Guy were trying to get their car fixed and get away from the small town they were stranded in.  There were defined sections however.  There were clear cut stories within the story.  It was like an anthology of short films that all tied together.  None were that good, but they were all watchable.

The more interesting thing is the mystery behind the movie.  Why is there such little information available?  Perhaps it is because Redneck County Fever is such a low budget movie, clearly made in the early 1990s.  The movie could have been made for the amusement of the people making it and forgotten about.  Eventually, someone found it and decided to share it with the world, albeit only a small portion of the world.  That seems like the most reasonable idea.  The person who found it hadn’t thought about it for years and couldn’t remember the names of everyone else involved.  That’s why only J.P. Black is listed in the cast.  It makes sense.

For a movie made with little budget, Redneck County Fever could be a lot worse.  It managed to be an okay story that was watchable.  I didn’t groan at how bad it was.  I was able to embrace that and enjoy some of what I saw.  As long as a movie is able to capture the viewer’s attention, the filmmakers have done something right.  There are many things wrong with Redneck County Fever.  But they did some stuff right, and managed to keep me watching without too much effort.  That’s something.

Here are some notes:

• I mentioned the idea of a movie being a series of stories involving the same characters in last week’s post for Budz House.
• Other movies that share the same sense of no budgetedness as Redneck County Fever include Rock Paper Scissors: Fall of the Original Six, Science Crazed, and Nightmare Asylum.
• Have you seen Redneck County Fever?  Do you have any information about the movie?  Have you ever even heard of it?  There’s a comments section below where you can share your thoughts.
• I’m always looking for suggestions about what movies I should watch for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  If you have any suggestions, you can put them in the comments or let me know on Twitter.
• If you want to see clips of some of the bad movies I watch, you can add me on Snapchat.  Just look for jurassicgriffin.
• Next week is week 200 of the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  That means I picked something special.  Road House will be one of the two movies next week, with the other obviously being Road House 2: Last Call.  You might be saying to yourself that Road House isn’t a bad movie.  I don’t care.  I watched it, and I watched the sequel.  I’m also probably going to put up an unedited piece of writing I did about the first Twilight movie.  It was written early in the life of this blog and I had intended to include it, but then didn’t.  So you might get that.  Or something else.  It depends on what I’m feeling.  Anyway, see you then.