Lack of good storyline.

Admirable film.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

OFFSPRING is a Z-grade B-movie made entirely without merit or a reason to watch. It's an ultra-cheap slice of gore in which various uninteresting characters are menaced by a clan of Neanderthal-style cannibals who spend the movie cutting up bodies and devouring them.That's all there is to the film so anyone looking for depth, plot twists or an immersive viewing experience is likely to be disappointed. The film was of slight interest at the outset given that it's based on a book by noted author Jack Ketchum with the screenplay also written by him, but the poor execution wastes all that promise.The cast is also uninteresting, with only minor parts for Pollyanna McIntosh (EXAM) as the feral clan leader and poor old Art Hindle (who you may remember from the excellent 1978 version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) playing a guy investigating the murders. There's a lot of cheap gore but that's no reason to tune in either.

Jack Ketchum is a first-rate horror writer, undoubtedly one of the best in the business today, but the decision to translate his Offspring for the screen is a perplexing one. For starters, Offspring isn't one of Ketchum's strongest books, so of all the stories this scribe has committed to the page, the material here barely hints at his true powers. But perhaps more importantly, Offspring is actually a continuation of the events in Ketchum's first novel, Off Season, which has not been made into a film as of this writing. So what we get here is the sequel to a movie that doesn't exist, which obviously causes numerous problems right from the get-go.It's not impossible to gather the general plot line of Off Season from the meager hints dropped in this film, and Offspring has enough of a presence of its own to be an enjoyable ride despite its absent back-story, but since our de facto hero here ends up being former Sheriff George Chandler, the fact that this outing shares almost nothing about him will make it challenging for viewers unfamiliar with the source novels to fully immerse themselves into his battle and navigate through the who's and what's. The version of Offspring this write-up is referring to clocks in at a lean 74 minutes minus the credits, which forces a judicious presentation of the happenings that unfortunately leaves many important details out of the mix. Some members of the feral cannibal clan aren't even given names, and with only a few sections of translated dialogue to clue us in on their dark purposes, the meticulously crafted inner thoughts, gruesome origins, and intricate familial relationships outlined in Ketchum's book are completely absent. All we really end up knowing about the animalistic brood from what's portrayed here is that they kill people, which is certainly enough to usher in the gore-fest that follows, but also fosters an unsatisfying understanding of exactly why the events in the film are taking place. Likewise, there isn't much time for character development to help us get a better grasp on the tormented victims in the piece, and since they're all essentially simply introduced then slaughtered or tortured, none of the horrific scenarios skated through here have nearly as much impact as they should.Apparently, the German release of Offspring runs an even 100 minutes, so this choppily truncated version is clearly missing some crucial pieces. I'm not sure exactly what was excised for American audiences, but the whip-crack pace of the Offspring I saw never allows it to slow down long enough to generate any tension. All of the most harrowing sections of Ketchum's novel are either missing entirely or dealt with so quickly that they are stripped of their resonance, which effectively removes most of the actual horror from the equation.In its place, we are treated to an overtly senseless but generously graphic bloodbath, and on that front at least, Offspring is largely successful. Since Ketchum himself wrote the screenplay for this offering, the salient elements of the carnivorous cave dwellers' hideous habits are all on the menu, and it is a credit to the film-makers that they had the cajones to maintain the author's vision, leaving in even the most unsavory aspects at the risk of alienating viewers not acclimated to Ketchum's often nauseating prose (the intestine munching scene, in particular, is a doozy that will make even the most jaded splatter fans stand up and take notice). Since the film deals openly and explicitly with the slaughter of infants, and children butchering and devouring people, the disturbing and unrelenting tone of Ketchum's tale remains intact, and the faithful adherence to that facet of the book is especially welcome since so much of the thematic and exploratory meat has been omitted.Though the look of the homicidal moppets and their psychotic matriarch sticks fairly closely to what Ketchum describes in his text, I was a bit disappointed by how plain their ensembles are in the film. The members of the cannibal tribe are essentially garbed in stereotypical Lord Of The Flies attire, wrapped in skimpy loincloths and decked out in indeterminate tribal jewelry that mostly looks like the kind of stuff you'd find at any farmer's market. I would have hoped that a prolific and resourceful band of killers such as this would be a bit more creative with their adornments, and since there isn't anything particularly ghoulish or noteworthy about their appearances, the children aren't nearly as menacing as they could have been, and often look downright goofy despite the admittedly sickening deeds we see them partake in with glee.Offspring can only be enthusiastically recommended to people who have read and enjoyed the book; at least they have the luxury of being able to fill in the blanks, since what's on the screen is far too brief and incomprehensible to adequately encompass this tale. Those who are merely looking for a gory and slippery romp will find plenty to keep them amused here, but even with the ample red sauce on display, the terse and befuddling presentation will make this a tough sell for the uninitiated.As a whole, Offspring simply feels incomplete. However, considering that more than twenty minutes of potentially important footage was unceremoniously hacked away, that parting impression is perhaps the lone aspect of the film that truly makes sense.

Fronted by the fame of Jack Ketchum "Offspring" does no favours for the man behind the idea. In a small lavishly situated in North-Eastern USA woodland area just next to the ocean, numerous series of morbid murders and disappearances have occurred in the span of the several generations. In the latest of them a young couple and their baby were brutally murdered and than dissected for meat by a group of roaming savage cavemen teenagers. But the carnage is only just begun, as apparently this is feeding season...Devoid of proper pacing or acting "Offspring" puts all its money on one card: visceral brutal gore (including fairly graphic disembowelling, burning people alive, baby-killing, brain-munchies and a very disturbing biting off of a vagina). The plot that crudely staples the movie together is a whisker away of falling on top of itself, mainly due to some inept back-story, where apparently the police know about these 'cave-men' for decades, but just didn't have the proper motivation (?) to do something about the issue. Irrespective of how many people, including children, go missing due to their activities. Any doubts regarding this wanton incompetence is cast aside by a statement, that the wild people roam freely across the border with Canada and there is no exchange of information between the two countries.This would however at least presume that however wild our rapturous cannibals may be, they still have a strong sense of self-preservation. Which unfortunately goes amiss at the start of this debacle, when they go on a killing spree and do not even bother to cover up their tracks, hence bringing about a hunt (however misguided it may turn out to be).Mingling in between this nonsense is a yuppie group of cardboard characterisations, which only benefit to the story is that they turn out to be useful for nondescript morbid murder and torture (although I fail to see why a women breastfeeding someone elses baby would result in her screaming in agony and despair, but well... I ain't a woman).Obviously filmed on a shoe-string budget and unfortunately the only thing that the creators were adept at was making proper disgusting and adequately gory special effects. Within the confines of the lack of money and filmmaking skills (strongly suggesting this was in all essence a student film) this pastes together to become quite an overdrawn, predictable and tiresome affair with substandard cinematography, lighting, sound, editing and acting (complemented by overflowing cheesy dialogue).

I hate it when movies start good and only after few seconds they deteriorate in a very bad way. I liked how it started with the man at his door sees a naked girl standing faraway and throws something and leaves. That took my mind in a totally different direction than that the movie turned out to be later.Anyhow, it is only fair to say that there is one scene, only one scene in the movie that was reallllllllllly good. The scene when the blond girl eats the intestines of the husband and he is looking at his wife and kid and remembering how his day started. He is being eaten in a very savaged way and he is looking back at how beautiful his day started with his wife and beautiful baby girl. This was a very disturbing scene and one that horror fans usually appreciate and seek in horror movies.