All My Friends Are Dead

I must admit I wasn't holding out much hope for this film especially seeing as jojo was in it but thankfully she isn't really in the film other than flashbacks but I was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong it's not the best horror I've seen and it most certainly isn't the worst. Its a teen slasher which i do like and it also had gruesome killings. I like that it was based on the seven deadly sins (not a spoiler as says that in trailer). It also had twists that I must admit I didn't expect. I also like a jumpy film and this did have the odd jump I wasn't expecting. Some of the actors aren't great but others aren't too bad. If you take it for what it is a comedy teen slasher and like twists I think it's worth a watch. Certainly didn't regret watching it.

Sure, it's not the best horror ever, but nonetheless, in a non pretentious way, pretty enjoyable. There's the well known premise of a bunch of college kids stranded in a remote villa, and then a masked killer starts hovering round the house and slashing one by one, up until (of course) a last one standing. They did put in a few nice plot twists, like the identity of the killer that I (stupidly) hadn't seen coming at all, and another surprising one in the end, keeping you on the edge of your chair until the credits start rolling.

The acting is just so, so, but in this kind of movie: who cares?! All characters are equally unsympathetic, so you couldn't care less what happens to them. Which is quite a lot, since they didn't hold back on the violence and gore, with pretty original killings, it's definitely not for the tender hearted.

If you want deep dialogues and impressive cinematography, you'd better skip this one; but if you're in for some 80 minutes of pleasant old school slasher fun, you won't be disappointed!

The movie was well acted by a pretty decent ensemble cast, but the writing made every character extremely unlikable and took away any regret the viewer might have at their demises.

The viewer ends up asking themselves a question from scene one...are college aged people really that shallow, mean, self-centered and dumb as these characters??? They are clueless in every step of the movie and of course break every rule of the "Surviving a horror movie" rulebook. Situations which normal intelligent people would be wary of; they jump into without any bit of caution!

The LGBT underlying theme is somewhat of a surprise, but it also paints a pretty negative picture of same-sex people, in fact this film paints a bad picture of LOTS of people, young people are flakey and unintelligent, guys are all horndogs, girls are addicted to social media exploitation and are constantly looking for a sexual hook-up even if they dislike the partner!. It also leaves a VERY strong negative impression of the police!

Wow! Talk about insulting every group of people equally!!!!

Horror films, as a genre, have always cannibalized one another. It's a fairly rare thing to see an actual new idea in horror. When a new idea does come about, the film makes a mark.. and is then copied repeatedly. This film is NOT one of those unique horror films.

If you've ever wanted to explain how horror films cannibalize each other, this film is a PERFECT example of creating a horror film without one single unique idea and just using a collection of stolen plots and motivations from OTHER films strung together.

This film starts with 10 minutes of just random back story to try and set up some history - using a concept taken from the movie "Seven".

Then it goes on to a typical young adult road trip ultimately ending up in a "Cabin in the Woods".

It's a very odd choice to put the title sequence here..... 20 minutes into the film.....

Then the story continues a la "I Know What you Did Last Summer" in addition to borrowing heavily from the "Saw" and "Scream" franchise.

.... a callback to "Seven" (Or perhaps "The Collector")... and then "Scream" again.... and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" Again...

Acting was a mix of terrible to passable. But as a story it was just a bad copy of every popular horror concept from the past.

------- Pass -------------

Not too shabby. Adding energy to the generic formula while being little more than an ode to 80's horror. What makes it work though is the energy picking up in the second to latter half of the film, some hilarious kills coupled with the type of characters you can't help but hope will meet a grisly end and a conclusion that's surprisingly effective. Predictable? Yes. But it's elevated by a team both in front of and behind the camera that genuinely put in the work and with an ending leaving room for a sequel, I actually wouldn't mind another go around to see what else they have up their sleeves..