Murder Party Review

Written by: Imagery   

“If some jackass is dumb enough to come here, then he deserves to die.” “Welcome to your murder.” Chris (Chris Sharp) is just a lonely nerd that wants to party. On his way home for a friendless night of video watching, he comes across a discarded Halloween party invitation. The gathering is called Murder Party. So Chris pops some pumpkin bread into the oven and goes to work on creating his cardboard costume – the brown knight. The party’s hosts are a group of art students trying to create a masterpiece in order to get their hands on a large monetary grant. However, each of their methods somehow involves the murder of their only clueless guest.

Although written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, the film is a collaborative project between friends that composed the cast and crew. Several of the filmmakers were even working double duties in front and behind the camera. Even though the film is low budget, it is not worse for lack of money. The cast is talented and they take full advantage of their select shooting locations.

The actors appear to embody their characters and the role they are playing in the twisted black comedy. Each has a different, forceful personality with some art student stereotypes incorporated. Their costumes range from staples like the werewolf and vampire to shout-outs to The Warriors and Blade Runner.

As the potential murderers’ plans continually go awry, the hilarity and bizarreness of the situation increases. Audiences are kept in stitches and wondering what could or will happen next, as the subsequent events are frequently unexpected.

“When the coroner’s report is in, it will read cause of death: art,” avows a pompous participant. However, as the performance piece progresses, the question becomes whose coroner’s report will it be?

And for those who are wondering, five knight costumes were constructed because they were quite fragile (blood and violence tend to do that). An instructional how to make your own brown knight disguise will be included on the DVD.(Originally published at Popjournalism)