Murder Party

So I've taken a long hiatus from blogging. I've been devoting a lot of time to pet projects. For example - this ant that I've MSpainted to look like a pirate:

I also have a meal worm dressed like a clown and chiggers dressed as mobsters.

But onto the real meat of this post. Murder Party is difficult for me to review because it's genuinely a good movie. That's not my forte. It's well written, sporting some immersive dialogue, its well shot, its got a Predator reference and it takes stabs at all the right kinds of people. Big thanks to the very talented digital artist Michael Oshins for turning me onto this awesome flick. Horror fan or not, if you can deal with the violence, you will find something to enjoy in this movie.

Our hero, Christopher Hawley, is easily relatable for one reason or another, though he's a bit of an extreme headcase. He's antisocial, awkward, probably not respected by his peers and more than likely really into D&D. On one of his bleak walks from his boring job to his boring home, he spots a note addressed to no one in particular: "You're invited to a Murder Party!" He doesn't think twice about any obvious sinister connotations this message could have, he's overwhelmed with joy to be participating in anything social. He whips up his best pumpkin raisin bread, makes an impressive-looking suit of armor from his best stash of cardboard and heads to the other end of town.

Once he arrives at the address, which happens to be an abandoned warehouse in the middle of a ghost-town industrial district, he is greeted with surprise by his costumed hosts. After a brief introduction they, (surprise!) attempt to MURDER him! The attempt is foiled, however, by a meddling pull-chain and they decide instead to bind Christopher and discuss how exactly they want to go about the murder. Something becomes apparent in their discussion: these people are by no means professionals - they're not even murderers. These people are artists, or more accurately "artists", who are attempting to join the ranks of the avante garde by aestheticizing murder. They are the kind of full-of-bologna creative minds that try to be so esoteric and high-minded that they just end up looking like clichés of themselves. Murder Party does an excellent job poking fun of this demographic. They fawn over people who use the word "jejune" and come up with names like "Valediction in Black" for nonsensical video art pieces wherein a woman is being pelted with uncooked hot dogs.

Christopher remains unhurt throughout the ordeal, which is more than you can say for his unfortunate captors. Like Sky, the zombie cheerleader, who falls over woozily from an allergic reaction to pumpkin bread and impales her skull on a stainless steel tube (in a playfully lighthearted fashion). That scene is a great example of the modern-day blood-and-guts slapstick featured in this movie. But actually, Murder Party isn't just a slapstick slasher. For a movie about a group of people dressed like monsters and villains intent on murdering an innocent, the movie features a surprising amount of high-quality, understated humor. It's not a visually stunning movie, despite being well-shot, it mainly takes place in one room. The main things to appreciate about this movie are the layered dialogue and subtle, hushed interjections. It's legitimately my second favorite movie I've reviewed (second to A Tale of Two Sisters) and it certainly warrants a few viewings.