For It Is Man's Number: danishka esterhazy

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Saturday, 24 June 2023

Shudder Saturday: Slumber Party Massacre (2021)

Although it may not be the first film that you think of when asked to list some of the best slasher movies from the 1980s, The Slumber Party Massacre is a beloved minor classic of the sub-genre, helped by the fact that it had at least one truly whacky and memorable sequel. It didn't seem like a film dying to be remade, which can be said of many horror movies that have ended up getting remakes, and I only decided to finally give it a watch when I felt as if I had very few other options on my viewing list. I'm glad I finally got around to it. This is a fun remake that takes the essence of the original film, the fact that it was always intended to be a parody, and refreshes it for our more self-aware modern times.

It doesn't take long to get into the action. This film starts with a slumber party massacre. There's one survivor (Trish Deveraux, played by Masali Baduza), but deadly Russ Thorn (Rob van Vuuren) is killed off very early. We then cut to many years later. Trish's daughter, Dana (Hannah Gonera) is heading off for a weekend with her friends. The group includes Maeve (Frances Sholto-Douglas), Alix (Mila Rayne), Breanie (Alex McGregor), and Ashley (Reze-Tiana Wessels). Trish is worried about her daughter, but Trish is a bit more worried than most people about every situation. Understandably. She would worry more if she knew what was really planned. The girls are hoping to replicate the events of decades ago and lure a possibly-not-as-dead-as-he-should-be Thorn back into action. What could possibly go wrong?

Directed by Danishka Esterhazy (who also gave us The Banana Splits Movie just a couple of years before this), what you get here is a smart and fun horror comedy, although the comedy stems more from the use and subversion of tropes, that also delivers some fun gore gags throughout. The smart script, written by Suzanne Kelly, figures out a way to constantly homage the original film while also presenting something that hits the expected beats of a standard slasher film. It's a lot of fun, especially with the plotting allowing for more exciting close encounters with a killer than you might expect from this kind of thing (slasher movies are, after all, often a lot of stalk 'n' slash moments until the final survivors are grouped together and informed enough to start their fight back).

The cast are all easy to like, and they all have a nice and easygoing chemistry with one another. Gonera is a great lead, and the surprise of that opening sequence allows you to worry that she's far from indispensable to the main storyline. Everyone else does good work, with Baduza eventually allowed to show that she's much more than just an "overly-concerned" parent. Van Vuuren has fun as the killer, a load of young men turn up to present themselves as more potential additions to the bodycount, and Jennifer Steyn is entertaining as she appears to fulfil the role of "side-eyeing local".

The big flaw lies in the character development. There isn't really too much going on here. Where the script does so well in the exploration of the tropes and expected story beats, it is sadly unable to make most of the characters truly distinguishable from one another. That may have been a deliberate choice (judging by the small running joke about two different characters named "Guy"), but it leads to the film feeling less involving and satisfying than it otherwise could have been. And with a runtime of just over 80 minutes, although I rarely say this, it feels as if some more time could have been spent just developing our core group members a bit more.

This is fun, I would say it's even a bit better than the original film, but it just stops short of being great. Horror movie fans should definitely check it out, and those who love this series will really enjoy the more direct references to the more iconic moments.

7/10

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Tuesday, 20 August 2019

The Banana Splits Movie (2019)

If you are of a certain age then you'll know of The Banana Splits, an anarchic and fun TV show that featured four characters (Bingo, Fleegle, Snorky, and Drooper) played by people in fluffy suits. Think of a more kid-friendly version of The Monkees and you'll be close. Anyway, I have fond memories of the show, as do so many others.

Which makes this horror-comedy makeover all the stranger. The trailer seemed to appear out of nowhere last week, when it was picked up and shared around by various sites, and here we have the film already. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew I definitely had to check it out.

Finlay Wojtak-Hissong plays Harley, a young boy who is taken along to a recording of The Banana Splits show for his birthday. He's there with his mother (Beth, played by Dani Kind), his inconsiderate father (Mitch, played by Steve Lund), and his brother (Austin, played by Romero Carere). And he's taken along a friend named Zoe (Maria Nash). Everyone watches the show, but things start to get weird when a select few members of the audience are allowed to stay behind and meet the gang. It turns out that the gang are robots, and something has gone wrong with their programming.

What. The. Hell?

Looking up The Banana Splits Movie brings up a number of interesting points. First of all, although I haven't seen anything else from director Danishka Esterhazy, but I'll check out anything else she does after this, I HAVE seen another movie written by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas. They've done a fair bit of TV work, including The Mistle-Tones (one of the many Christmas movies I have seen in my lifetime) and they have a history of mashing up TV show formats with some extra blood and death (as they did with their My Super Psycho Sweet 16 movies). Second, this was apparently based on an idea for a Five Nights At Freddy's movie. Whether that is true or not, it's hard to unsee the similarities once you consider that possibility.

Although never as wild or inventive as it could be, this ticks a lot of the boxes if you were somehow waiting on a horror comedy featuring the Banana Splits as deadly killers. The main characters look pretty much the same as ever, a number of familiar accessories are put to good use (such as the cars that the characters used to drive and Fleegle's magic tricks), and you get a version of the familiar theme song played here and there. Some of the kills are gory fun, and the central premise ensures that the horror is underscored with a current of dark comedy.

Wojtak-Hissong is a decent young actor, as are all of the humans here, but each main sequence is really a waiting game until the Banana Splits get involved. They are too much fun, in normal or killer mode, and so you just have to give props to Kind, Lund, Nash, and Carere for playing second fiddle to them. Richard White does fine as Stevie, the one human character who stars alongside the Banana Splits, and Naledi Majola tries her best in the role of Paige, a put-upon member of staff who looks after the show's live audience members. There are numerous others onscreen, all of them potential victims, and they're all acceptable enough in their roles.

I liked this movie. I wasn't sure who the hell thought it would be a good idea, but I liked it nonetheless. It's just a shame that it seemed to hold back when the potential was there to go even darker and crazier. Because if you're going to create a film around this ides then you may as well make up a mess of fun.

7/10