Movie Review: Murder Party

Murder Party Official Trailer from Sean Duregger on Vimeo.

Murder Party

Rating:  

Directed By: Jeremy Saulnier

Starring: Chris Sharp, Macon Blair, and Paul Goldblatt

Plot Synopsis:

In search of a good time Chris (Chris Sharp) drops in on a Halloween party thrown by pretentious Brooklyn artists in this satirical horror film. Without warning he becomes the object of their “Murder Party” an overblown art project that involves his torture and death. Naturally Chris isn’t so thrilled about this idea. However though stuck in an unwieldy cardboard costume Chris isn’t as helpless as he looks playing off hipster rivalries in a gory and often hilarious game of survival.

Review:

Murder Party is a fun little indie horror/comedy that I found myself enjoying a lot more than I thought I would. This little gem has just enough going for it to bring it up from the usual low-budget sludge that plagues the Horror genre.

The movie has a simple plot: unsuspecting dude gets into a situation and must get out. But it’s the characters and the delivery of this film that bring it above the normal b-movie gore-fest. In fact, the marketing of this movie had me to believe this was a gore-fest to end all gore-fest. Yes, blood does flow. But most of the violence happens off screen. And sometimes that’s actually more disturbing than showing off gore “money shots”. Although, the few “money shots” in the film are pretty awesome.

What I loved about Murder Party most of all were the characters. The first hour of the movie is not necessarily a horror flick, more of an indie dark comedy. Kind of like a surreal Kevin Smith movie. Although murder is planned, this group of wanna-be killers sit around, use drugs and bullshit each other. Even allowing the victim in on the fun. This is where the movie is the most entertaining. Each character is so fleshed out, that even though they’re in costumes, (one girl is dressed as Priss from Blade Runner the whole movie) each character is memorable and oddly likeable.

When the mayhem finally ensues, the final act of the movie is standard horror fare, but still fun nontheless.

Murder Party is a fun and even memorable Horror/Comedy that will most likely become one of my Halloween traditions. A cult classic waiting to happen, I hope Murder Party finds it’s audience.

Rated R for language, brief nudity, brief sexuality, pervasive violence and gore.

Related posts:

1. Movie Review: Stuck
2. Movie Review: Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey)
3. Movie Review: Pathology
4. Movie Review: Laid to Rest
5. Movie Review: The Strangers

Tags: Chris Sharp, Horror, Independent Film, Jeremy Saulnier, Macon Blair, Movie Review, Murder Party, Paul Goldblatt

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 am and is filed under DVD Reviews, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.