Well, I have to say that I was lured in by this 2022 horror movie's cover. Needless to say that I had never heard about the movie prior to watching it. But it being a horror movie was essentially all that was needed for me to sit down and watch it.

Writers and directors Jason Rader and Jason Von Godi put together a semi-adequate enough slasher script here. Sure, "The Hoot Owl" was watchable, but it wasn't a particularly outstanding horror movie. It suffered from being a low budget movie, but not managing to do what the 1982 "Evil Dead" did on its budget.

The storyline was adequate enough for a single viewing, and I doubt that I will ever be returning to watch "The Hoot Owl" a second time.

The acting in "The Hoot Owl" was as to be expected from a movie of this caliber, production and budget. And with that being said, don't get me wrong, because I've seen far worse acting performances, and even in bigger budget movies. But you know what you are in for here with a movie such as "The Hoot Owl". I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress here.

Something that definitely worked in favor of the movie was the gore, blood and special effects. Sure, "The Hoot Owl" is a low budget movie, but the special effects were actually good enough and gory enough to keep a gorehound like myself happy. And I will say that the blood and gore in "The Hoot Owl" actually makes it worthwhile watching the movie.

The movie's cover was rather interesting and alluring. But it was actually also the best part about the entire movie, sadly so.

My rating of "The Hoot Owl" lands on a three out of ten stars.

There is absolutely nothing in this movie for the first 53 minutes other than people doing what people do: moving to a new house, getting acquainted, partying, telling stories, and yes, finally fishing. Since the credits start rolling at 67 minutes, that leaves about the last 15 minutes of the movie for everything else including a large portion of blood and chasing, and yes - more blood. And since what's with the title "Hoot Owl". Since when does a guy running around in a cow skull look anything like an owl? Least, that's what it looked like to me. A more appropriate title should have been "How to kill off most of the cast in 15 minutes or less".