Amazing fun (along with some gross scares) and just about a perfect blend of horror and comedy: the Cairnes bros' buoyant 100 BLOODY ACRES

Do not, under any circumstance, miss this delightfully deranged horror comedy in which a pair of brothers named Cameron and Colin Cairnes create a movie that tiptoes through a minefield of possible misfires and comes out the other side just radiant with laughter, shock and as much blood n' gore as you want, while remaining, well, an absolute charmer. How these two first-time full-length filmmakers (shown below, but don't ask me which is which) manage this looks easy as pie but in reality is nothing so simple. No, this kind of concoction is much-longed-for but rarely achieved: a movie that never missteps as it travels from a kids-on-the-road film to backwoods horror to chock-full of fun, thrills and chills to sexual eye- (and mouth-) opening surprise to imminently satisfying love story/comedy/morality play. Who'd have thought it possible?

100 BLOODY ACRES is as good an example of the amusing horror/slasher movie as I have perhaps ever come across, and I think the reason is that the filmmakers (above) do not push anything in untoward fashion. From the first, as we are introduced to the two sets of characters who will soon interact -- the three "kids" (two of whom are shown below) off to see a Woodstock-like rock concert and the two brothers (shown further below) who own a local fertilizer company and have discovered how much better the use of roadkill makes their product -- each moment seems fresh and often off-the-cuff funny. Or grizzly.

As the plot (along with the fertilizer and blood) thickens, this sense of a kind of jaunty reality continues, pulling us easily along. The Cairnses man-age to keep the fun, thrills, suspense, gore and adventure rolling at a near breakneck pace, with events tumbling over each other and -- best of all -- characters growing richer and more surprising as the movie chugs along.

The cast could hardly be better chosen, with each member delivering the goods. Perhaps a special nod must be made to Chrissie Page, who plays Aunt Nancy and offers up the biggest surprise of all. For its immortal line alone -- "When's the sound check?" -- which gave me my biggest laugh of the year so far, I'd have to recommend this movie. OK: I'm not saying another word. It's up to you. Seek this one out or miss a top-of-the-line treasure and a genre-mash-up for the ages.

100 Bloody Acres -- from Doppelganger Releasing, the off-kilter/off-color/on-target arm of the more art/mainstream distributor, Music Box Films -- has just come available on DVD. Let's hope, like other Music Box movies, it finds its way quickly onto Netflix streaming.