You'll probably snooze your way through the first half of the goofily titled The Curse of El Charro before the meat of the matter makes itself known, and then you'll realize ... it's just another slasher flick. Only this one has an inordinately hateful cast of characters.

Four simplistic female stereotypes are primed for a hot and sexy... drive across the desert. Yeah, weird. Anyway, the chicks can be identified by their one character trait apiece: One is a slut, one is an amazing bitch, one is a ridiculously sweet nicegirl, and the last is a haunted gal who's dealing with her sister's suicide. I think.

Anyway, they decide to drive across the desert to some rave party shindig (or something), which means we have about 49 minutes of set-up, driving, and endless peals of insipid dialogue. The young women seem to actively hate one another, which makes it seem a little bit strange that they're enjoying a party-time road trip together. On one of their stops, the ladies are forced to contend with an evil presence intent on murdering them in only the most joyously brutal ways possible. Toss in a silly block of explanation via flashback, a bunch of rambling dreams, and a few random murders, and that represents the whole of El Charro.

It's a low-rent cheapie that's more than content to re-churn the same old butter, offering nothing that's even remotely new, fresh or, hell, even stupid. Four chicks drive across the desert, stop at a motel, meet some guys, and then pretty much everyone gets slaughtered. And even that stuff isn't all that much fun. Don't let the genre-friendly names like Andrew Bryniarski and Danny Trejo fool you; this flick is little but four harrowingly obnoxious girls who anger the wrong spirit way too late in the game.

The DVD

Video: The widescreen transfer is basic cable quality all the way. Watchable enough, but nothing lovely.

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. Not much difference between the two.

Extras: There's a 22-minute piece called The Making of The Curse of El Charro, in which various actors and filmmakers share their thoughts. Easily more entertaining than the movie itself. You'll also find a 90-second short film called Into Something Rich and Strange, as well as a photo gallery and a pair of trailers for The Roost and Reeker.

Final Thoughts

To be fair, a lot of the rustic-looking flashback footage is pretty nifty, and once the flick gets rolling it doesn't skimp on the mayhem -- but you have to sit through a whole lot of migraine material to get to the goods.