Murder Party

Every single time I see a movie I really, really want to like it. I want it to be the next SLASHERS or NIGHT FEEDERS or FIDO. I want it to knock my metaphorical socks off and I want to go to my grave 30 years from now cherishing the memory of the day I saw it for the time! Yep, every single time. Even though I've been burned by OTIS and SEVERANCE and zillions of other "horror comedies" that everyone else liked but which left me cold, Still I approached MURDER PARTY with the same hopeful feeling that I was about to discover a gem, a diamond in the rough. Yeah. And you know what? I loved this little independent sucker to death!The story centers around Christoper a pathetic loner(a milquetoast dominated even by his own cat, Sir Lancelot), who while walking home from the video store after work on Halloween happens upon an invitation to a party, a "murder party"--at the bottom of the invitation are the ominous words "come alone". Intrigued by the invitation (and unable to encourage his cat to get off one chair in the living room) Christopher decides to break out of his shell. He locates the party's address on his computer, bakes some pumpkin bread, makes a knight's costume out of a cardboard box (after throwing out the perfectly good monster costume the box contained), and sets out for a night of fun. Or so he thinks.The other party goers are; Lexi who's dressed as Priss from BLADE RUNNER, Macon in a werewolf mask, the obviously psychotic Bill as one of the baseball mimes from THE WARRIORS, Sky is the ubitquitous the cheerleader, and Paul who's doing the romantic 19th century vampire bit. And they are all quite surprised when Christopher shows up bearing gifts of pumpkin bread. They are simply stunned that anyone would be stupid enough to actually show up for something called a "murder" party, and before he knows it Christopher is bound and gagged and tied to a chair. It seems that they are all avant garde artists intent upon impressing someone named Alexander who has $300,000 worth of grant money to disperse, and what better way to do it than murder someone (guess who?) in an appropriately artistic manner. After they discuss various art concepts vis a vis Christopher's dead body, Sky pipes up. She isn't totally down with the murder thing and says she has an even better idea that won't involve killing anyone, but before she can divest herself of said idea she gets dizzy, falls on a handy pick axe sustains a fatal head wound, gets up and says "Smells like cut grass" and promptly falls over dead. (Wow, I didn't see that one coming!) It seems she had been eating the pumpkin bread and was allergic to the preservatives in the raisins. MURDER PARTY is full of surprises and that's one of the biggest selling points any movie can have in my book.Originality, creativity, and a sense of humor (the Holy Trinity), all traits which are sadly lacking in mainstream films lately but which can still be found from time to time in low budget indies such as this. MURDER PARTY also has a tight, well written story with actual character development courtesy of Jeremy Saulnier who not only wrote and directed but also acted as executive producer AND director of photography in his spare time. That's a trademark of the indie, everybody is doing at least double duty; Paul Bartlett not only played Paul in the flick he was did the make up and special effects and everyone kicked in their own money to finance the film, it was completely self-produced. And its this kind of involvement in every level of the film's production that gives the indies their special sense of life--there's love and passion oozing out of every frame in flix like this. That's what makes them so irresistible. There's also some pretty good acting here too, with several actors deserving of special mention, among them; Chris Sharp as our hapless hero, William Lacey as the psychotic Bill, and Puff Snooty as Sir Lancelot the cat without whom they would have been unable to have filmed one of the best finales in motion picture history. Bravo Puff!I highly recommend this one, although a 4 and 1/2 is nearer the mark than 5 stars. Sorry D Wili.

SHOULD I? STATUS: Close the tab, open Amazon, and watch MURDER PARTY right now.Available from Netflix with a Shudder add-on subscriptionTHE QUICK AND DIRTY DEETSThe 30 Rock of 90-Minute Horror ComediesHigh on Originality, Plot (Plot is both cohesive and entertaining/constantly moving forward), Dark Humor, Tight ScriptLow on CGI, Budget, Jump Scares; Official Indie DarlingScares: 4/10Hilarity: Through the roofTHOTSI didn’t think I really dug the “horror comedy” genre until I watched Murder Party. Yes, I’d seen Cabin in the Woods before, and yeah, it was Joss Whedon, and clever, and funny, but I’d also tried a couple of movies like Stitches (a clown movie), Birdemic, S. O. B., even Dale and Tucker… and…well, I was amused, but i wasn’t impressed. Before Murder Party, Cabin in the Woods was probably my favorite, but it was an ambivalent favorite. Surely, that couldn’t be the best there was, right?Murder Party changed my mind. Murder Party does so much so successfully – heck, let’s call it impressive.There’s a lot to love in this film. Both script and plot are completely cohesive – everything “makes sense,” as it were, from why each character’s present in the movie to why they’re doing what they’re doing. The movie’s rife with clever nods at several essential horror movie tropes, as well as references to cult classics. The minds behind Murder Party seem to be not only horror enthusiasts, but general movie fans as well. That combination of love for the genre, plus comfort with the medium (especially style and method), really results in something special here. If you want to get sly-grin-clever with meta-analysis here, this is when you’d point out that Murder Party proves to be a satisfying, low budget indie breakout in Halloween disguise. At first glance it’s another cheap horror flick, a B-movie at best. But underneath this facade hides 90 minutes (or so) of genuine entertainment. You will not regret these 90 minutes. I promise.What do I love about Murder Party? Honestly, what isn’t there to love? But I’ll try to highlight a few key strengths.First off, (in the first 20 minutes, really) our main character/would-be victim here, Christopher, is not only endearingly characterized, but skillfully so. I fall in love with his utter relatable-ness in fifteen minutes, every time. So much of his personality and life is conveyed with one, maybe two, simple and straight-forward scenes which contain no other human characters. The film’s denouement is spectacular, and sets us up for an evening where the events and character action follow, with complete sense, from its inception. Have I mentioned how rare of a quality this is, especially in horror?Every character in Murder Party is gifted with a complete personality, individual motivations and (some) backstory, and actions which nearly always make complete sense – even if you don’t agree with them, at all. Many of the characters are selfish; many are lying, to themselves or others; and each one schemes towards some higher goal throughout the course of the movie. It’s this goal which drives them each to the film’s resolution, and creates many amusing twists and turns in the plot along the way.For every jump scare some other “favorite horror movie” pushes onto its audience, Murder Party has a smart moment, a funny reference, a clever tidy movement of plot. It’s low budget but not obviously so, which is incredibly hard to pull off in this genre, where special effects often drive movies more than they ought – SFX, really, exist as embellishment, and should influence the film as such. No more. It is a pity so many directors and producers go computer-mad with their recorded product, as if impossible mists and digital monsters are really what’s scary in the world.No. Murder Party knows the truth. It’s not fiction that we should be afraid of. It’s the capabilities we all have, the ones that lie in each other. What would the person next to you do, if you were between them and a million dollars? Or a lifelong dream? Or true personal fulfillment?No one has nightmares about blood that creeps out of walls at its own desire. They have nightmares about interactions with others. Unknowable, oblique others.

There are a lot of movies out there that are unknown, but really should be. Murder Party is one of them. This movie is extremely funny, clever, well-acted, and just fun to watch. The writer and director, Jeremy Saulnier, is getting rave reviews and much-deserved attention from his latest movie, Green Room. That will undoubtedly lead fans to this and Blue Ruin, another movie by Saulnier that is just as deserving to be watched. This writer/director is on the rise, and judging by the last three movies he's done, he's only going to keep improving.Aside from a couple of short films, Murder Party was Saulnier's first official film. Give it a watch and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and entertained.

Great movie. The writers did an amazing job. So much thought went to this. I watch it once a week and pick up something new that they did cleverly

This movie is so good! I bought it for my boyfriend as his copy was stolen from him so I decided to replace it for him. Such a weird off color film great for people with a dark sense of humour.