I’ve read some negative reviews of this film and I was
surprised. I wondered if the same people writing those would have found the
humor in EVIL DEAD as ridiculous as they found this movie. Myself, I enjoyed it
immensely and found the combination of humor and horror well done here. It’s a
touch combination to master and many can’t pull it off but the folks here did
an amazing job of it.
The film opens years ago as a young boy named Dax watches
old black and white horror movies with his mom on Halloween. She tells him
there’s nothing to be afraid of and heads to the kitchen where she is attacked
and killed by a maniac on the loose. The killer was a patient of her husband,
Dr. Conway (Tate Donovan). Fast forward to the present and young Dax (Robbie
Kay) is a true horror geek. It’s his way of coping with what he witnessed years
ago.
Dax is making plans to attend a horror fan fest that evening
called Blood Fest. The film fest is different this year in that they’ve rented
an entire ranch and constructed various areas to tie into specific horror film
themes, enclosing the entire shindig for fans only. Unfortunately his father
finds his tickets and cuts them up. He’s anti-all things horror since the
murder of his wife. He has plans to be on a TV show that night condemning Blood
Fest and expects Dax to be there as well.
Bemoaning his loss of tickets to his two friends Sam
(Seychelle Gabriel) and Krill (Jacob Batalon) they suggest he contact Ashley
(Barbara Dunkelman), a friend of his and an aspiring actress who landed a small
role in one of the films showing. She agrees to pass them in and the night is
planned.
The group shows and Ashely introduces them to the director
of her film, a jerk named Lenjamin Caine who obviously has no real love of
horror and uses his position to take advantage of attractive leading ladies.
Walking the grounds in the main area the come across Roger Hinkley, the actor
who starred as the main killer in Dax’ favorite horror film ARBOR DAY. The adage never meet your heroes comes true
when Hinkley dismisses his character and horror films in general much to Dax’
disappointment.
The lights go down and the spotlights go up and the host of
Blood Fest steps forward on stage to the roar of the crowd. Horror director
Anthony Walsh steps out to greet the crowd and introduces a new horror icon
soon to hit the screens, a masked killer named Red. He laments the state of
horror on today’s screens and tells the crowd they are there to participate in
the making of the most stupendous horror film ever. Calling two guests to the
stage Red kills both and the crowd cheers thinking it’s all an act. As a group
of chainsaw wielding men wearing pigs heads stands at the front of the stage
Walsh announces that it’s all real and only those who survive the night will be
allowed to live at which points the chainsaws rev up and the carnage of fans is
cut down in a gory blood batch.
Realizing it’s all real Dax and friends take off to find a
place to hide and regroup picking up Hinkley on the way. With the location
walled in and the only door out covered they realize they are trapped. Until
Ashley tells them she came in through a back entrance, a large yellow door that
she has a pass key for. Looking at the map given all guests they discover that
they have to travel through almost all of the various locations on the grounds
to reach the door.
The rest of the movie follows the group as they attempt to
reach their destination going through areas filled with zombies, vampires,
clowns and more. At the same time we watch as behind the scenes Walsh and his
crew are filming every minute of the death across the park. Eventually we
discover that Walsh has a partner in crime here funding the entire event. Not
all of those in attendance, including the small group of friends, will make it
out alive before the sun rises in the morning.
The movie parodies and pays tribute to various horror movies
and their fans here and does a fantastic job of it. Horror fans will easily
recognize the movies they portrayed here and the humor/horror of seeing them
come to life. I’ve said before that horror fans are the most die-hard fans in
the world and it proves true in this film. If you’ve ever been to a horror
convention then these folks here are as real as one would expect to find at one
of those events.
Bringing both horror and comedy to life and combining the
two is not an easy task but writer/director Owen Egerton has pulled it off
nicely. The in jokes work well and the gore factor is as over the top as one
would expect in any respectable horror film. The nods to various movies also
work well while not being so exact that a copyright infringement problem would
ensue.
The acting on hand here with mostly unknowns is surprisingly
good. That’s not to slam those involved but in most cases young unknowns tend
to become little more than stereotypes done to the extreme and while there are
certain stereotypes going on here none of them come off as patronizing. Kay
handles the job of being the center of attention nicely here. Gabriel does a
great job as well as the sarcastic tough girl who is a match for Kay when it
comes to horror knowledge and fandom. Batalon is terrific as the chubby friend
who’s determined to lose his virginity with little clue as to how to achieve
it. And Dunkelman pulls off the bubble headed blonde character while not being
too ridiculous. When she does so there is a reason for it.
The end result was a movie I could easily pull out and watch
again. It might not achieve the same level of horror comedy as my favorite
TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL but it’s a close second. I know I can watch it again
and still get plenty of enjoyment out of it. What better can be said about a
movie?
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