That's a Wrap

Having just finished filming, the director of an upcoming horror film hosts a special cast screening party to give everyone one more chance to say goodbye, but when someone dressed as the killer in the movie starts killing everyone off they must find a way to stop the deadly rampage from continuing.

There's quite a lot to like with this one. Among the brighter spots to be had here is the fine setup of what's going on that gets things off on a fun note. The whole idea of the self-confident-if-delusional director trying to hold the contained wrap-party for the cast who use the time to get to know each other better leads to plenty of intriguing conversations about their movie roles or other personal issues. This provides the kind of touch to give us enough to get to know them and get a suspect list going while setting up the location used here to great effect as the part continues. This allows for the high-end use of strong slashing scenes taking place throughout here. The opening shot of the actress stalked by the killer through the facility is a solid setup using the film's emerging proclivity for neon-lit scenery and lighting that generates a solid stylish ploy. That type of appearance and style becomes a prominent part of the film going forward as the backstage locations where each of the attacks takes place focus on using the bright red or blue neon surroundings that end up allowing the killer to hide in plain sight and strike due to how well they're hidden. That continues on to the later scenes where the extended chase scenes throughout the facility. With stand-out scenes such as a victim showering to clean up after a drink accident, a couple trying to get together in a darkened hallway, or another couple being intimate on one of the sets alone offering up some fun scenes, there's a nice mixture of genuine staking scenes with brutal, over-the-top gore gags. The other big confrontation between the last survivor and the killer is a solid offering as well, featuring some fine cat-and-mouse moments and a fun resolution to all come together nicely for quite a lot to like. The film does have some big issues that hold it down. Its biggest factor is the whole motivation and reveal of the killer, who not only seems incredibly obvious but is one of the lamest reveal motivations in the genre. The whole point of the rampage is laughably stupid to think it could be pulled off successfully and is justifiably written off only to generate a new twist that's slightly better if still outright terrible at being a motivation for going on a rampage. As well, the film's idea of comedy where characters make meta references to movies only to have that happen to them is insulting, being the issues that bring it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Full Nudity, a sex scene, and drug use.

This production right here looks a little cheap to be honest, thus I do not believe it had much of a budget. Considering the kill shots, it definitely tried to rely more on creativity, but sadly they went with the shaky camera.

Now it does look like That's a Wrap decided to make fun of the slasher genre, forgetting that Scream made an entire franchise that is still going strong even today, with this exact theme. So if you don't have the budget, if you are not coming off as original, why choose this path?

Anyway, Scream was fun, complex and unpredictable. This one has close to no plot, you can describe it in one sentence, but that would mean spoiling it.

Anyway it's just about a killer with a mask, killing people, while sometimes remembering that it wants to spoof the genre.

All in all, bad dialogue, bad characters, weak acting, no development of whatsover, just scene after scene with a new weak kill.

I won't recommend it sadly, it fails as a horror comedy or plain slasher.

Cheers!

Finally, Marcel Walz makes a decent movie. Is is perfect? God no, but it's better than anything he's done before. The director of the absolutely horrid remake of Blood Feast had made several really lousy direct to video then streaming films and this had the look of yet another. Surprisingly, this turned out to be decent. The acting - for a change is actually alright. No one's winning an award, but nobody really stunk it up either. The script is acceptable, not brilliant but alright. Then there's the direction. Let's be honest, til now Marcel Walz has been Uwe Boll with a breast fetish, but he reigned it in just enough for this to be a watchable and fairly entertaining movie.

At the time of this review, this movie is sitting at a 6.4 user rating. I don't get it. I found it to be really pretentious and clunky. The acting is awful, the effects are trash. I can see the influence that some classic giallo films had on the director, but the execution was poor. There are several scenes of overt, graphic sexuality, that I found to be way too much. Trust me, I'm no prude, but this was WAY over the top and none of it was of any necessity to the story. All in all I was very disappointed with this film. I thought the trailer looked pretty good and I had high hopes. I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

No pun intended - there are quite a few people that you may be able to recognize in the movie. Some only in it for a few seconds. There is also a Psycho homage and I'm quite sure a lot more, if I cared enough to pay attention - same goes for you of course.

That said, the movie is not making any secret what it is about. This is a slasher, the director does not care about your feelings or if you want quality - well you got the wrong movie, if that is the case. This is delightful when taken for the low budget slasher fest that it is ... that said: you really have to dig it and you really have to suspend your disbelief. It doesn't even matter what the reveal is ... I already forgot. But the blood fest is ... immense! Which also means you can't be easily offended ... but that's a given with Walz movies I reckon ...