Get Duked! – Prime Video Review (4/5)

GET DUKED! is a new Amazon Original horror-comedy that works extremely well. Originally titled Boyz in the Wood, this movie is crude, bloody, and funny as hell. Read our full Get Duked! review here and check it out on Prime Video now!

GET DUKED! is a new horror-comedy that has a lot to offer. The story focuses on friendship and teamwork while also covering social realism in a wonderfully abstract (though also strangely realistic) way.

The movie is an Amazon Original that you might have heard of under the title Boyz in the Wood. Honestly, this title wasn’t the best idea, and this new title works perfectly for the story!

Also, you should expect to see many familiar faces from independent (and a few blockbusters) genre productions.

Continue reading our Get Duked! review below.

The Upper-class does Spring cleaning

Essentially, we have three boys who have been sent on this wilderness trek and one boy who wants to do it because it’ll look good when he applies to universities.

The sweet and innocent Christian boy, Ian (who was home-schooled and has no friends), is looking forward to making new friends and tries to help the other three. The three city boys have no idea about what to do, but they have all the confidence in the world.

As strange things begin to happen, the few police officers at the local police station suspect they might have a huge case on their hands. If they do, this would ensure that the station will remain. So, obviously, they can literally make a mountain out of a molehill.

Watching the police officers train-of-thought and reaching increasingly weird conclusions alone is enough reason to watch Get Duked!

Trust me on this one.

The real story of what happens in the Highlands is that a rich man wants to do some spring cleaning by taking out the city boys to make Britain great again. Okay, he never says that directly, but it’s pretty damn close.

Eddie Izzard is the upper-class hunter going after the boys. However, he has clearly never encountered four boys quite like these.

The most magnificent supporting cast

The magnificent Kate Dickie plays the eager police officer in Get Duked! She is as amazing as always and in case the name doesn’t ring a bell, the face still should.

Kate Dickie has been in everything from Alien: Prometheus (2012) to independent hit movies such as The VVitch (2015) and Prevenge (2016). Also, you might know her from Game of Thrones (2011-2014) or the mini-series The Cry (2018).

Also from the aforementioned Prevenge (read our top-rated review here), is the star and writer-director of said movie, Alice Lowe. And you’ll recognize Jonathan Aris from the 2020 Dracula mini-series and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Also, he played a real sinister character in The End of the F***ing World.

Finally, I have to mention James Cosmo. He was in Braveheart for crying out loud. It doesn’t get much more Scottish or Highlandish (is that even a word?) than that. Well, except for – obviously – Highlander (1986) which he was also in. Or you’ll recognize him from the Chernobyl mini-series and the movie Malevolent.

The four young boyz in the wood

Of course, this movie is all about the four young lads sent on a trek. That’s why the title of this movie was originally Boyz in the Wood. Not good since it makes it sound like a spoof, which it absolutely is not.

I wasn’t really familiar with the four young men in the lead roles. However, they all did wonderful jobs at portraying some very different personalities that managed to surprise again and again.

You might recognize the young man portraying Ian (the home-schooled boy) since he was also in the Ghost Stories anthology. His name is Samuel Bottomley and he’s also in the Netflix sci-fi mystery mini-series Kiss Me First (2018).

Watch Get Duked! on Amazon’s Prime Video now!

Ninian Doff is the writer and director of Get Duked! which is his feature film debut in both regards. Previously, Ninian Doff has been directing (and sometimes writing) music videos for artists such as The Chemical Brothers and Miike Snow.

This is actually quite obvious in a few ways. Mostly in terms of how well music is incorporated into the movie itself. In fact, one of the genres listed for this movie on IMDb is “music”. Along with horror, action, and comedy. A perfect combination we’ve seen before in movies such as Deathgasm (2016).

You might like: Our review of the supernatural heavy metal horror-comedy Deathgasm here >

However, what really does set Get Duked! apart from many other horror-comedies is the fact that nothing supernatural happens. It’s all based on reality. Albeit a rather exaggerated (I have to assume) reality of what life is like in the gorgeous Highlands of the lush and green Scotland.

Get Duked! is out on Prime Video from August 28, 2020.

Details

Director: Ninian Doff
Stars: Eddie Izzard, Kate Dickey, James Cosmo, Samuel Bottomley, Viraj Juneja, Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben