Pool Party Massacre

While it may suffer a bit from intentionally unlikable characters, a micro-budget, referential humor, odd performances and annoying parts that drag too long. Pool Party Massacre actually delivers a pretty good experience of gory deaths, an interesting twist and an all around fun 80's slasher film vibe.

Even when 80's inspired slasher movies are sort of overdone, I can still reccomend the film for those who like the genre as it does enough to pull off some of the beats quite well. A good one, just not one of the best.

After the online Facebook hype and the rave reviews, much like the film "Don't F**k in the Woods," I was looking forward to seeing this. It is an 80's tribute film, same things MANY low budget people are doing today. So much so that it has ALMOST worn out it's welcome and I LOVE 80's movies. This one has some nice production value and a nice look, even if some of the basics of film production seem to be ignored. And when a film uses a tagline promoting itself in the same breath as "Slumber Party Massacre" you had better deliver. It ALMOST gets it and then takes a nosedive off the deep end of the pool.

Why do almost all low budget films today have to have a group of people who are so nasty. First of all, they are all the same characters. Over and over. And the writers always make me hate them. Terrible people. I have no emotional investment at all in any of them. This is what the originals did right. Watch Halloween, Slumber Party Massacre and Prom Night. Why did I like them? I found people to care about. Even Terror Train and Motel Hell gave us defined characters. It is one thing to want to make a tribute to those films, but these low budget teams today are missing the vital points. They copy the music, they try and outdo the gore, they steal the formula. But they don't get it at all. Maybe when they are better at their craft.

I watched a PG film, Happy Death Day along with this. And I loved it. I normally hate PG movies, especially horror movies. If it would have been gorier, it would have been perfect. The same with Final Girls from a few years ago. Too tame in the gore for me, but great movies. Really good writing. This movie could have been as good, and should have been, but the writing let it down. And the gore. This film should have really went all out with the gore. I wanted to love this, but it was not bloody enough and I had no one to care about.

Still, I do see promise in the film. I would like to see what this team can do as they get better and have a few movies under their belts.

"Worst pool party ever!" When her wealthy parents go away redhead Blair invites her equally spoilt socialite girlfriends around to her nice house for afternoon drinks by the pool but a couple of uninvited guys turn up, as does a maniac intent on spoiling the fun. Very low budget horror comedy that is also an homage to 1980's slasher movies, for example the opening credits feature some very 80's looking computer graphics and the soundtrack has synth music that was commonly used back then. When I bought this on DVD I was hardly expecting to see a great film and the reality is that it isn't good, but likewise it isn't terrible either. By far the best thing are the kills, the unknown killer uses different tools (axe, saw, claw hammer, electrical drill, etc) for each victim. They are gory, plentiful and inventive (and thankfully not CGI). Much of the acting is terrible though I did like Kristin Noel McKusik as Blair. One of the uninvited guys is a bloke with a receding hairline, moustache and looks like he's 30 odd, he is present for "comedy" value but his constant talk of sex and masturbation soon becomes tiresome. The identity of both the killer and the obligatory Final Girl are very obvious though there is a twist. The film is set during the summer but was actually shot during apparently freezing winter weather in Nevada, credit to the them as I'd have never have know this had I not watched the extras (which are more entertaining than the movie itself!). The cover promises hot girls (check) and nudity, there is some of the latter but I had hoped for more. The party in the title isn't exactly what I'd call a party, just a few drinks by the pool, corpses can be seen blinking and breathing, and the film crew are reflected in glass at least once. Drew Marvick, who wrote and directed the movie, has an obvious passion for the horror genre and as a fellow horror fan I can only commend him for making this film. The movie could have been better but I expect that I will watch it again in the future and am happy with my purchase.

Pool Party Massacre (2017)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Throwback to the 80's slasher film takes place at a rich girl's parents house. The rich girl is throwing a party for her rich friends and pretty soon they're being knocked off my an unknown person who is using various tools from the garage.

POOL PARTY MASSACRE is a throwback to an era where it was cool to have "Massacre" in your title. The entire film from writer-director Drew Marvick is a throwback to the days when dumb characters did dumb things and often paid for it with their lives. As was the case with many of those films, this one here plays up the mystery angle as we're given a few suspects but we have to wait until the end for the result.

Unlike a lot of the slashers from the 80's, this one here goes a bit over-the-top when it comes to the humor. The film has some funny and campy moments and there's no doubt that the film is giving a wink to the viewers who are fans of the films it's inspired by. With that said, I think the film tried to be a bit too clever and a bit too "ha ha" for its own good. The girls at the party are played up as very annoying valley girls and they are a bit too annoying.

With that said, the film has a lot to offer and where it really succeeds are with the death scenes. As I stated, there are a variety of tools used for the murders and thankfully not everything is CGI. There are some practical effects and it was nice seeing actual fake blood. There's nothing more annoying than seeing a bunch of CGI blood and thankfully we've got the real stuff here. The death scenes are creative and fun even though they're certainly not in the same league as a Tom Savini.

POOL PARTY MASSACRE is a film that works for what it is. It's not a masterpiece or even an overly good film but as far as a spoof goes, it's pretty darn entertaining.

This is not a film written by someone who has ever heard real people speak naturally. This is not a film acted in by anyone who has ever seen someone act naturally. This is not a film directed by someone who has ever seen real people do ANYTHING naturally. Lousy dialogue, lazy plotting, indistinguishable characters, tedious pacing, boring murders. I can't think of a single redeeming feature about this film.

It doesn't even have enough sense to make the potential victims likable so the badly filmed murders are for most part a relief as each one kills off another annoying character we no longer have to put up with.

Avoid.