Party Night (2016)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Tommie Vegas, Ryan Poole, Billy Brannigan
Directed by Troy Escamilla
Prom night, drunken teens, a secluded house, and a savage killer on the loose – maybe it’s me…but haven’t we been down this road before? Anyhow, director Troy Escamilla’s leap into the deep end of the filmmaking pool, titled Party Night, is an admirable throwback to the days of VHS clamshell cases and TVs with ass-ends the size of Buicks – read on and let’s get the skinny, shall we?
Escamilla makes no mistake that Party Night is a tribute to those fun fiesta slashers from back in the heyday of the 80’s, and his film is a representation of that effectuation – the feel of an 80’s aura is in the air, yet doesn’t use the hook as an overwhelming asset – hey, ya gotta progress in time sooner or later! Look at it this way, faithful followers of the site: I could warble on and on about plot points, directive inventiveness, yadda, yadda, yadda…here’s the deal: Escamilla wanted to make a fun, cheesy and violent tribute flick, and BOOM! He did it, and not to overlook some of the film’s small faults such as suspect performances, goofy thought processes (didn’t everyone in an 80’s slasher have them), and the lack of some real screen time for the lead slasher, the movie does have its merits.
Pluses you ask? Well, the gore for one is a nice touch, with nary a spec of CGI to be found – practical FX all the way around here folks, and it looks pretty damn good to boot. Small budget aside, the call for gore was answered, and it should make the fans more than happy with what was put on screen. Overall, I’ll give this one a good mark mainly due to the look and feel of the completed product, and can ring this Party up as one that should be given a look, especially for fans of the 80’s slice-and-dice set. Sometimes you want a decent-sized chunk of intellectual components correctly mixed together to create a cohesive and comprehensible product that can be conferred about long after its credits have run, and on the other mitt, sometimes you just want a little sex, drugs and dismemberment with your Saturday night. Oscar-material here? No. A good, old-fashioned beer and blood-fest to revel in? ABSOLUTELY.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
