Murder Party

On Halloween Eve in Brooklyn, an average Joe loser named Chris finds an invitation to a costume party. Arriving at the "party", Chris discovers he's fallen prey to the lethal trap set by deranged artists. As the night wears on, rivalries within the group flare up. A body count accrues, and Chris must take advantage of the ensuing chaos if he's to survive the night. I'm always suspicious of films that get high grades from people who only review that film. Makes me think they worked on the movie. This movie has a bunch of those. It's an OK film, but not great. Large parts of it drag on with no direction. And much it makes no logical sense. It's hard to pull off a movie like this and the filmmaker doesn't succeed. About a third in it becomes tedious and predictable. Half way through you wish it would end. Was hoping for the best but can't recommend.

A Surrogate sense of shame… That is the only kind of sentiment "Murder Party" evoked with me. I am literally feeling embarrassed in writer/director Jeremy Saulnier's place for even daring to release such an utterly retarded and infuriatingly dumb excuse for a horror motion picture. What, does really everyone think they are capable of making horror movies nowadays? This is exactly the type of rubbish to give the entire genre a bad name. For some reason most reviews for "Murder Party" are enthusiast and praising. I figure these critics were either somehow involved in the production or received illicit commissions of some sort, because there's really nothing positive about this movie. At the time of watching, my mate and I were so much under the influence of alcohol and soft-drugs that we even would have found "Not Without My Daughter" hysterical, yet we didn't laugh once at "Murder Party". Well, with the notable exception of one gag (the lead character gathering a whole collection of potential weapons only to then just drop them upon seeing his opponents) but that hardly justifies the price of a purchase. The gags are overlong and often ridiculously over-the-top, the stereotypical characters are insufferable to even gaze at, the gore is really nothing special and each and every tiny aspect about the production is handled incompetently. The lead guy Chris is a big lonesome nerd who finds a personal invitation to a Halloween party on the streets, and since his life is so miserably pathetic, he decides to go and even bring pumpkin bread as a present. He ends up amongst a gathering of the world's biggest lunatics posing as artists and solely invited a random stranger to kill him/her in the name of art. But hey, since they're all crazy, they actually begin killing off each other and forget about the dork in his homemade robot costume. Even with a running time of barely 80 minutes, "Murder Party" outstays its welcome with approximately 75 minutes and it's honestly about time young and ambitious filmmakers realize horror and slapstick aren't supposed to mix, and especially not by clueless amateurs.

I began watching this film intending to count the hack plot devices and script clichés. In 5 minutes I was lost in what turned out to be a wry, witty comic horror gem. The premise is surprisingly fresh & slightly farcical. A hapless schmoe finds himself the center of a bizarre plot in which a group of hack artists plan to kill him in the name of art. Bungling chases, attempted murder, actual murder, sex, drugs, rock n' roll, & accidental maiming by fire are just a few of the mishaps and perpetrations which follow. This is offbeat, dark comedy at it's finest. The effects- fantastic. The script- witty and engaging. The story unfolded and progressed at a pleasing clip. The acting, usually the bane of the indie movie, is great. This award-winning movie is 90 minutes well-spent. There's many surprises & laugh out loud moments. I liked it so much, I bought my own copy.

I wish we could do negative stars, because I can't believe anyone gave this over a one. The "plot" of this movie is that some loser goes to a "murder" party sponsored by some avant garde artists vying for grant money. He is promptly tied up and threatened with death which the artists will take pictures of. Now, mind you, the NEA does some weird stuff with no artistic value, but this would be even below their standards. After copious amounts of drugs are consumed, the "artists" start turning on each other, until the victim escapes and is being chased by the last two survivors. There is nothing to redeem this movie. It isn't scary, it isn't funny, and it is unwatchable. The sad thing is that I forgot I had it and got a late fee from Blockbuster, which is really adding insult to injury.

put this one in your collection next to "female trouble" and "art school confidential" as another hilarious send up of the absurdities of the hipster art world. a must see for jaded crabs from Williamsburg to echo park!!! the lab of madness seems to me to be a group of talented and enthusiastic filmmakers who aren't afraid to have some "dumb fun" at the expense of those who deserve to be dressed down. i'd be willing to bet that they appreciate the brilliance of Stanley Kubrick and Marlon Brando but get just as excited about Kane hodder and Tobe hooper. also, check out their short film "crabwalk" it's a slice of life piece about a knucklehead looking for a lousy job.

Murder Party is set in New York during Halloween where middle aged loner Christopher Hawley (stuntman & producer Chris Sharp) finds an invitation to a 'Murder Party' blowing around in the wind, having picked it up he decides to go to it. Once there he meets five people all dressed in costumes, these people overpower Chris & tie him to a chair with the intent to murder him & film it for reasons I don't really know. However one of the gang Sky (producer Skei Saulnier) has a reaction to a raisin(!), falls over, hits her head & klls herself (!!). The Death of their friend doesn't deter the wouldbe killers but the lure of taking some drugs, talking & not much else does &, well, not much else happens really. Can Chris turn the tables & escape his potential killers? Who cares? Photographed, written & directed by Jermey Saulnier I am amazed at how many good reviews Murder Party but at the same time I am not surprised by all the terrible reviews it has also, maybe this is a love it or hate it film & if it is then put me firmly in the latter camp. Just flicking through some of these reviews & apart from wondering if I saw the same film I get the impression that Murder Party is meant to be funny, I must admit while watching it I didn't laugh once & I honestly can't remember a single instance of intentional humour, I really can't. To give Murder Party some credit the first few minutes are alright & the initial premise of someone trapped waiting to be killed by a group of strangers had a certain hook to it but then the film goes nowhere very, very slowly. Chris spends almost the entire film tied to a chair & barely says a word while these annoying character's stand around doing nothing in particular & due to their own stupidity they are the ones that end up dead & Chris manages to survive without so much as a scratch which is pretty much the most predictable outcome there could have been if you think about it. The dialogue is awful, the character's are awful, the narrative is awful with virtually no reason or explanation behind anything that happens & there's zero horror here either. The IMDb says this has a runtime of eighty odd minutes but it felt like hours to me last night, a slow paced, unfunny, unscary mess of a film that might have worked better as a thirty minute telly show with a twist ending of some sort. The opening credits to Murder Party are revealing as the same names keep coming up & it seems clear this was made by a small number of people who obviously did several jobs. There's no real gore until the end when there's some burnt skin, some blood splatter & a chainsaw in someones head in a scene which sounds gory but in reality isn't. There are a few odd scenes here that are almost surreal like the train ride Chris takes & this fat black dude just sings in his face for no reason at all while he sits there impassively. The best aspect of the production is that each character is dressed in some sort of Halloween costume which gives the film a certain vibe. This probably had a budget that wouldn't stretch to a round of drinks at your local pub & it shows with the virtually entire thing set in one part of a warehouse. The acting didn't do anything for me although I have seen worse. Murder Party is a film that I pretty much hated apart from the the basic plot & the fact the lead character's are all dressed in odd Halloween costumes, despite that I still didn't like it & thought it was a complete waste of my time.

Having just read a review that describes this as a "Jerseyites view of the NY art scene", that is both astonishingly patronising (the whole point of the movie,idiot!)and unbelievably "jejeune" (wink), I have to say how much I love this film. "Indie" cinema has been relegated to either a kickstart for the career of a middling celebrity, or a vacuum for self referentialism or schlock."Murder Party" is neither: it is witty,genuinely left field, and kind of touching. It is black-as-black comedy rarely performed well nowadays. A hapless,lonely but genuinely nice,traffic warden on Halloween gets captured by a group of desparado wannabe celeb artists, after responding to a "murder party" advert. They desperately want to impress a local art impresario,Alexander, by performing a murder on camera as art. I will not ruin this for you but I will tempt: the rest involves sex,drugs, a dog called hellhammer "who is part dingo", unrequited love, a Belarussian drug dealer, a fry cook, sodium pentathol and "truth and dare", and of all things, vinegar. Not tempting enough?;a brilliant reference to "The Warriors" and a Horror mask that becomes reality...note "electric chainsaw".It stabs pretension and Genre expectation with equal abandon. Closest thing to John Waters I've seen for years. This really needs to be seen. Well acted and incredibly well made. Oh yeah, its also incredibly funny. Low budget with few locations or tricks, and shot on DV so most DVD companies passed, and it was released in the UK by a company famous for SOV tackathons. Not fair, it's brilliant and better than anything Kevin Smith has done for a decade. If You see it on the shelf, Make it a cult.

This is probably one of the most original ideas for a movie i have seen in a very long time. I was entertained through most of the movie and thought some parts were just hilarious. For his first time directing a full movie, i thought he did a very good job and the writing was great. Not one corny line throughout the whole film which is really good, Thank God. The only criticism i have is that two or three parts were carried out for quite a bit and quickly got old. But either way the movie is great. I recommend it to horror/comedy lovers, but if your just another tight ass about your movies, then just stay away and don't critique this just-short-of-a-masterpiece. Thank You.

This movie is a real time waster. It has decent production values & a few OK performances (the lead victim & the photographer) but it is undermined by a truly awful performance by the art "patron" & a ludicrous script. The film has a "Hee Haw" attitude towards the Brooklyn art scene & seems like something a clueless old fart would've written for a skit on the "Sonny & Cher Show" back in the 1970s. The irony here is that if the writer & director were better artists they may have pulled this off. Instead it's a stale comedy that isn't funny & a horror/thriller that isn't suspenseful. Even the soundtrack is a joke--what self respecting NYC artist listens to speed metal?

Im sorry to say, this was absolute terrible, don't even bother watching it nothing happens apart from some random killing at the end, seriously its pathetic, and i've seen a lot of films lol... It starts of with a terrible opener, music sucks, i was bored in the first minute to be honest. Then he randomly gets taken hostage.. 90 minites later, something happens! Horror/Comedy - i Choose just comedy.. its something to laugh "at"... Shane