CinemaClown Jeremy Saulnier's feature film debut may not be as refined or focused as his breakthrough effort but it does succeed as a wicked horror comedy that's definitely crazy, twisted & ludicrous and in spite of its crude look & amateurish feel, manages to provide many good surprises along the way.The story follows a lonely guy who stumbles across an invitation to a Halloween costume party and, having nothing to do, decides to attend it, but soon discovers it to be a trap set by a group of deranged art students who intend to kill him as part of their art project to impress their patron.Written & directed by Jeremy Saulnier (best known for Blue Ruin & Green Room), Murder Party is shot with almost no money yet what it puts on the screen not only makes it a refreshing delight but also showcases the director's knowledge of the genre(s) & his eye for carving moments that are tense & engaging.Complemented by a thrilling score, aptly utilizing its camera to intensify the atmosphere, brilliantly balancing the elements of its genre(s), and certainly not holding back on violence or gore, the plot gets more n more demented as it progresses and completely snaps in the final act, killing anything & everything in its path.The characters inhabiting the story are nothing more than a bunch of losers, unworthy of any emotional attachment but it's the little details about them & their actions that provides majority of laughs. Performance isn't the film's strongest suit but Macon Blair & Chris Sharp are still hilarious in their roles.On an overall scale, Murder Party does manage to live up to its name and is an amusing, ridiculous & farcical indie that's as absurd as it is entertaining. Splashing the walls with blood & guts when the occasion calls for it yet never losing its humour in the process, Murder Party is a riotous ride that isn't memorable but it's surely fun, and can definitely use a broader audience.

olympiquetango Chris actually wanted to have a comfy evening with some horror movies and candies. The first VHS tape, "Scare Wolf" is chosen. But what is this? Cat Lancelot is laying lazy on his TV chair and makes no efforts to clear the field for him. So Chris decides to go to this dubious Halloween "Murder Party". Well he is not really invited. He found the invitation accidentally on the street. But hey, who cares. Better than waiting for the cat to leave the chair… Quickly he makes a Knight costume out of a cardboard box, bakes pumpkin bread of that what is left from the pumpkin head kids smashed in front of his door and is ready to leave. When he finally arrives at a storage building, the strangely rouged and costumed party guests seem to have a boring time. But his appearance gives the whole mood a sudden kick. What a relief… Or maybe not? In the next scene we see Chris captivated on a chair. Furthermore he finds out in a painful manner that he is the guest of honor of this "Murder Party" and that his life will be exhaled in an artful way this night… Halloween inspired a lot of horror movies since it is a nice frame for a movie of this genre. Plus the best thing about this yank feast is that you can build in so many references to other movies thanks to the costumes… Director Jeremy Saulnier does exactly the same. We see a group of Droogs, e.g. they belong to "A Clockwork Orange" as much as the sound of Ludwig van Beethoven. And another homage is the really striking rouged Baseball Player from the "Warriors" which also appears in a similar way in " The Riffs" as far as I know. The entry to the story is a real joy, because Chris gets introduced in a really funny way. We get to know he is a naive character. The whole comedy like scenario gets crowned by the manual skills he shows by making his own costume. Almost surreal appears his way to the party and you really wanna know how things will develop. Unfortunately after we get to know all the facts, the story loses his speed a bit. It seems like Saunier tried to stretch the middle part of his independent production to get a full-length feature. But after you get a lot of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll paired with paired with art and violence. Lotsa fooling around and chainsaw-brain action. A true ode to joy! The mostly unknown Actors really do a great job. If you have any friends doing art you will have a lot of pleasure finding similarities to real existing (wannabe) artists, their lordly behavior and skin-deep talks… The score is a mix of Italian-and mainstream horror sound with a pinch of 80ies Pop. As a result I can say, "Murder Party" is a flick that is a pleasure to watch. Especially if you keep in mind that it was a low budget production although it doesn't look like one.

manchester_england2004 MURDER PARTY is a supposed spoof of slasher movies, thrillers where people are held hostage as well as a vehicle for poking fun at art generally.The plot sees Chris, a somewhat lonely guy who lives alone with a cat, finding an invitation to a murder party. He makes a very ridiculous Sir Lancelot costume from cardboard boxes and goes to the party, which is held at a warehouse. There is no party and Chris finds himself trapped by a group of deranged drug addicts who plan to kill him and film the act.The first few minutes of the movie were quite good and suitably misleading for what is to follow. There was nothing funny but Chris was an interesting character to start with. He would have been great in a different movie.By the time he gets to the party, things go downhill quickly. This would have been better if made as a serious horror/thriller since its attempts to be funny come off as downright ridiculous or plain bizarre.Chris Sharp plays the lead role very well. His reactions were well captured. In a more serious production, I would have been rooting for his character. But with this being a parody, I knew he was never in serious danger of harm.The remaining actors are all terrible, either underacting or overacting in various degrees.Most of this movie takes place in a single setting - a warehouse. There is nothing wrong with this - if the story and script play out well. Unfortunately they do not. The deranged drug addicts just talk a lot of endless nonsense about art and film whilst Chris is gagged and tied to a chair. Some scenes carry on like this for 10 minutes or more, making the modest running time drag out somewhat.The direction is very much along the lines of parodies such as SCARY MOVIE. The gags are telegraphed in advance, the attempts at humour are massively overplayed, there is comic music in the background when Chris tries to escape and there are some incredibly silly special effects.I am a fan of "so-bad-it's-good" movies such as CAMP BLOOD, THE NAIL GUN MASSACRE, TROLL 2, DON'T GO IN THE WOODS and CHOPPING MALL just to name a few. Comparing these laugh riots to MURDER PARTY proves that humour deriving from a serious subject only works when it is UNINTENTIONAL.Overall, MURDER PARTY is a seriously unfunny movie that has one interesting thing about it - the main character. It is hard to recommend this to anyone, except for perhaps fans of SCARY MOVIE or other intentional spoofs. For everyone else, I advise keeping to established serious horror or go with "so-bad-it's-good" classics.

evileyereviews Murder Party is the result of years and years of film-making hijinks that was spawned by a group of neighborhood kids and a camcorder. That group, having gone on to study film, then set about making their indie debut. The result is fabulous, a rare treat that is becoming of a labor of love and comradery. Sans any outside influence, this film is unadulterated excellence on a scale not measurable in Hollywood. Amazingly, many of the film-makers second as the actors, some without any acting chops to speak of outside of their childhood pranks. The result sounds tenuous, but instead the Lab of Madness crew have put together a blacker than black comedy horror flick that combines existential wannabe cool artistry with prosaic bureaucratic loneliness, laced with sociopathic overtones, driven by clicky intrigues, culminating in a TNT explosion of bloody mayhem. In short, brilliant fun that is certainly not for the whole family. For the social outsider in all of us, Murder Party is a satisfying dish of black humor magic. Merci beaucoup.Genruk of Evil Eye Reviews