Murder Party
(2007) 79 Min.
Rated: NR (gore)
Country: USA
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Chris Sharp, Kate Porterfield, Tess Porterfield Lovell
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★★☆
After finding an invitation, a man shows up to a Halloween party as their unwitting murder victim.
Synopsis:
Christopher S. Hawley (Sharp) is an average, plain man who live alone with a cat. One Halloween, on his walk home from work, he comes upon an invitation to a Murder Party lying in the street.
Finding that he has nothing other to do on Halloween night aside from watch Horror movies with his cat, he decides to build a cardboard knight costume and bake a raisin pumpkin bread.
He travels to the specified location which seems to be a warehouse. Inside there are a few people dressed in costumes and they seemed surprised he’s there. Christopher thinks he might be at the wrong party when he sees a plastic tarp, hammer, rope, ax and chair. The attendees assure him that it’s the right party. Then one of them tries to hit him with an ax and before he can get away the others manage to get him and tie him to an office chair.
Unfortunately the others quarrel over what to do next. Some of them want to wait for Alexander, while others want to go to a party nearby. It is revealed that they are art students who want to kill someone for art. One of the students, Sky, eats some of Christopher’s bread. She’s allergic to raisins so she sits down, but faints and hits her head on a spike. She gets up in a daze for a few moments before finally dying.
The rest of the group get angry at Christopher, blaming him for Sky’s death. One of them, Macon, decides to throw Sky’s acid on Christopher, but it turns out the acid is vinegar and there’s no harm done.
Meanwhile, Alexander, has arrived. Alexander, it seems, has a large sum of grant money for the student who impresses him the most. Lexi goes out to greet Alexander. Sky’s body is put in a freezer. Alexander walks in with his adorable dog Hellhammer and his drug dealer friend Zycho.
Alexander, jealous of Paul’s 19th century vampire costume makes him undress under Zycho’s gun. Alexander explains to them how he has over 300,000 in grant money available to him and he really wants them to push themselves as they are pitted against each other. Paul is a photographer, Lexi works in video, Bill paints, so they all have to use their artistic vision in how they plan to kill Christopher. He also tells them they will wait until midnight and stab Christopher until he dies.
Macon can’t wait until midnight since he’s already hungry and while the group decides what to eat Christpher escapes. There’s a long chase scene through the warehouse until he’s recaptured and tied up again.
Bored, Alexander make the group inject sodium amytal (a truth serum) and play a game of questions. Alexander sends Zycho out for crank. Paul calls in his assistant to help set up lighting for photographing Christopher. Macon goes outside to smoke. Macon had previously poured alcohol all over himself so he ends up burning his wolf mask onto himself.
Paul starts to argue with Alexander doubting that he really has grant money and saying that they haven’t seen his artwork either. Paul injects Alexander with the truth serum while his back is turned.
Alexander admits he’s a fry cook and doesn’t have any money. Alexander plans to kill the art students and sell their art.
Zycho returns and Alexander instructs him to shoot Paul. Zycho shoots Paul and his assistant. Hellhammer eats a bag of crank. Macon pulls off the melted plastic mask on his burned face, gets an electric saw and cuts up Zycho who was holding onto Lexi. Alexander walks off with Hellhammer following him and presumably mauls him. Bill gets an axe and attacks Lexi who was freeing Christopher from his chains. Bill also kills Alexander with the axe.
Christopher then runs off into the warehouse trying to escape. Bill is in pursuit with his axe and Macon with the electric chainsaw follows behind. Christopher makes his way to a rooftop party a few buildings over and heads down to the art gallery there. He manages to hide among an art installation using live people. It’s Cicero’s art show. A party that had been alluded to earlier in the film. Cicero and Bill talk a little but at the mention of Alexander Bill gets enraged and goes into the art show killing all the people that are part of the art installation.
Macon plugs his electric chainsaw on the rooftop but falls off, dying. Christopher manages to get the plugged in chainsaw as it dangles by the window outside. He then attacks Bill, killing him. Christopher leaves the scene as the party goers enjoy the art installation. Christopher makes the long journey back home. He is about to sit in his chair that his cat has claimed. He asks Sir Lancelot to move and this time the cat obeys his blood splattered master.
Review:
Murder Party is fairly amusing. I think it especially will find amusement with anyone who has been an art student or is a friend of one. Art school tends to bring out the same catty attitudes in people which were better left in high school and I think this film reflects that. The lengths at which students go to to impress someone with money or a teacher are fully on display here.
Christopher’s lonely character is an everyman who most people can sympathize with. He didn’t want to spend Halloween alone with his cat and instead he’s fighting for his life. He’s grown as a person and no longer relies on his medication to keep him calm. He’s endured a harrowing night at the hands of art students.
The laughs in this film are mixed with a good dose of gore to achieve a perfect low budget comedy horror film. The film never pretends to be something it isn’t and calls back to earlier things in the film, like the raisins in the bread that poison the first victim and the fact that Christopher’s cat now respects his owner.
I’d recommend this film to anyone looking for a fun little low budget movie.