Jeff Daniel Phillips is arguably best known for his collaborations with Rob Zombie, starring as Herman Munster in his reboot of The Munsters after working alongside the shock rocker on The Devil's Rejects, 3 From Hell, 31, and The Lords of Salem. His filmography includes the likes of Halloween (2007), Christmas Bloody Christmas, and Becoming, and now Phillips brings his latest directorial effort, Cursed In Baja, to FrightFest 2024 cementing his status as a genre legend.
In his feature debut, Phillips stars as Pirelli, an ex-detective lured out of retirement by the Kemper family, a wealthy yet eccentric Los Angeles family whom he had previously worked for to locate their missing daughter Helen in Mexico. On his deathbed, patriarch Robert Kemper asks Pirelli to locate his missing grandson and heir to his fortune Quinn who, like his mother, has gone missing in Baja while chasing his fortune as a rapper. Pirelli travels to the bustling town to retrieve the youngster but gets more than he bargains for when he runs into violent gang-affiliated musicians and a mysterious cult who worship the legendary Chupacabra.
Cursed In Baja is weird and wonderful from the off, flitting back and forth in the timeline with Sin City-esque narration from Phillips that amps up the pulp elements of the stylish gore flick. It channels the very heart of cult B-movies with its surreal narrative that twists and turns right to the very end, oddball characters, practical effects, and rough around the edges aesthetic. Phillips' extensive experience in the horror genre is apparent as he playfully bends common tropes while paying homage to the genre at every turn, leaving audiences never knowing what to expect next.
With every question answered, another one is posed as the audience is plunged into the same delirious confusion Pirelli faces while trying to discover what exactly happened to Quinn in Baja. As the layers of the mystery are slowly peeled back. the detective is faced with not only the horrific crimes of the Kemper family but the very real beastly presence of the Chupacabra which causes bloody bedlam in the final act.
Cursed In Baja is the culmination of Phillips' horror knowledge, taking viewers through horror history with its practical effects, twisty storytelling, creature stories told around the campfire and quickfire action sequences that bring the unpredictable, peculiar, deadly Baja to life. It brings together fresh talent and horror icons such as Barbara Crampton, Jim Storm, Constance Forslund, and Michael Shamus Wiles in a pulpy mashup that is sure to become an instant cult classic.
Cursed In Baja had its world premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Friday, August 23.
