Review of Murder Party - Toronto After Dark
It’s Halloween night in Brooklyn. Chris, a lonesome and unremarkable fellow, finds a mysterious invitation on the street and follows it to what he thinks will be a fun costume party. It turns out to be a lethal trap set by a gang of deranged hipster artists. Their plan is to lure someone to their remote warehouse base and ritually murder them as part of an extreme artistic event. It’s all to impress their wealthy and sinister guru/patron, who soon arrives with promises of grant money and his dead-eyed henchman. As the booze-and-drug-fueled night wears on, rivalries within the group flare up with violent consequences. A body count accrues and Chris must take advantage of the ensuing chaos if he’s ever to escape the warehouse and survive the night.
Official Site: http://www.murderpartymovie.com/
Reviews: Bloody-Disgusting.com, Dread Central, The Film Fiend
Our Review
I don’t think I have ever had a change of heart about a movie as much as I have had over Murder Party. Before the movie, I was comparing it to the other slasher flicks that we had seen at the festival and was being quite negative. Now that I watched it a second time I’m really curious as to what I was smoking the first time I saw it. Either my preconceptions totally influenced my opinion or else I just was not paying attention to the movie that I was watching. If you are looking for just another slasher flick then you are not going to enjoy Murder Party. The closest comparison to any other movie may actually be The Breakfast Club but with blood and gore added onto it.
Even though the movie poster focus on the hero or Knight character, he is the one who gets the invitation to the Murder Party and is the victim the movie spends more time delving into the different artist characters and this is where it really pays off. Just like in The Breakfast Club there is a scene where each of the artists opens up about their insecurities. You can tell that the writer knows how creative people think and feel. A near perfect blend of truth and comedy is shown in this scene and you actually care about these characters.
It is also worth noting the combined humour with realism in this movie. Our hero truly is out of place and his actions are extremely realistic yet also totally hilarious. There are three scenes in the movie that stand out for me. First, opening and closing scene with the cat is just brilliant. The fact that the cat is responsible for this all happening still makes me laugh when I think on it. Secondly when our hero gets trapped in the broom closet his plan of escape is so slapstick that it is humorous and finally when our hero finally breaks free out of the building his first physical impulse is so reasonable yet it would never be shown in most main stream movies. Murder Party earns big points with me for its sense of humour.
Murder Party really is not just another horror movie. It is quite memorable for its strong characters and for its excellent sense of humour. Do not go in expecting to be scared silly but go in expecting to be fully entertained. I know that the majority of the festival crowd really enjoyed it. I’ll give Murder Party 4 out of 5.
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