''Murder Party'' is a 2007 American
horror comedy
Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...
film written, directed and shot by
Jeremy Saulnier
Jeremy Saulnier (; born June 10, 1976) is an American film director, cinematographer and screenwriter.
Career
In 2007, he released his first feature film, ''Murder Party'' which he wrote and directed starring his childhood friend, Macon Blair.
...
. It was shot in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. It was given the Audience Award for Best Feature at the
2007 Slamdance Film Festival The 2007 Slamdance Film Festival took place in Park City, Utah from January 18 to January 27, 2007. It was the 13th iteration of the Slamdance Film Festival, an alternative to the more mainstream Sundance Film Festival. A full list of films appeari ...
and screened within such festivals as
Maryland Film Festival
The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...
.
Plot
Christopher, a lonely meter maid, finds an invitation to a
Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
costume party entitled "Murder Party", on the street. Constructing a knight costume out of cardboard, he makes his way to
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
to attend the party, only to discover it is actually a trap set by a group of deranged art students. The art students, in costume, include Paul (a gothic vampire), Macon (a werewolf), Sky (a
zombie
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
cheerleader), Lexi (
Pris from ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
''), and Bill (a Baseball Fury from
''The Warriors''). They intend to commit a murder as a piece of artwork to impress Alexander, their wealthy and sinister patron, in the hopes that they will receive a large arts grant from him. Chris has brought along a loaf of pumpkin raisin bread, which Sky starts to eat. She then reveals that she is allergic to non-organic raisins, falls over, hits her head and dies. The group hides the body out of embarrassment
Alexander arrives to the Murder Party with a friend, Zycho (who is unknown to the group), and his dog, Hellhammer, who is claimed to be part dingo. Alexander reveals that Zycho is his drug dealer. Each member of the Murder Party then gives their input on how they will commit the murder. Drugs and alcohol fuel the group as they decide to wait for the witching hour, at which time they will all stab Chris in unison. While Macon leaves to pick up some pizza, Alexander has sex with Lexi and then later with Paul. Macon arrives back to see the two having sex and begins binge drinking and ends up covering himself in alcohol in the process. He later accidentally sets himself on fire which only Chris notices. Paul, a photography artist, begins taking pictures of Chris and is frustrated that no one will assist him.
As the group grow bored, they decide to play truth or dare using
Sodium Pentothal
Sodium thiopental, also known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anesthetic. It is the thiobarbiturate analog of p ...
("truth serum") and divulge their most inner secrets. All eventually take a shot from the same needle, except for Alexander, who injects his shot into a slice of pizza. Each reveals mostly trivial truths about their lives and attempt to force Alexander to confirm that he indeed does have grant money to give. Bill, who has mostly kept to himself, discovers that the group make fun of him and plan on kicking him out, but only because his work is so much better than theirs. Macon confesses his long time love for Lexi and recounts a story of when they were in high school and ate a popsicle together on a water tower. Macon shows he kept the leftover popsicle stick as a token but is rebuffed by Lexi. Alexander sends Zycho out to get him some
crank.
Frustrated with not having anyone to assist in his photographs, Paul calls his professional assistant to aid him. The group is not happy as the assistant is not aware of the murder party. An argument breaks out and Paul injects Alexander with a dose of truth serum. The group ask him about the grant again and discover Alexander is actually a fraud: He is a fry cook who plans on killing the group, stealing their art and selling it as he assumes it will be worth more. Lexi discovers Macon on fire and she and the assistant extinguish him. Zycho returns with a bag of crank and Alexander immediately tells Zycho to kill everyone. Paul is shot in the head but doesn't realize and seems to only be annoyed that someone interrupted his shot. The assistant is also shot in the head and Zycho attacks Lexi. Macon, badly burned yet still alive, gets his chainsaw and uses it to attack Zycho; brutally killing him and passing out shortly afterward.
Lexi immediately begins to untie Chris, but Bill, who has now completely snapped, decides everyone has to die and kills Lexi with an axe. In the excitement, Hellhammer eats the bag of crank and then attacks Alexander. Bill finishes off the wounded Alexander with a baseball bat and begins hunting down the last survivor, Chris, who has now escaped. Macon awakes and pursues Bill with an electric chainsaw to avenge Lexi.
The chase leads them to an art student party. Chris attempts to hide in a performance art exhibit and Bill is approached by the organizer, Cicero, and asked if he has seen Alexander as a grant was promised to him. Bill is further enraged and vows to murder the whole scene. He enters the art exhibit and murders all the artists before cornering Chris. Macon, who has arrived at the party and has found an outlet to plug in the chainsaw, falls off the roof while plugging it in. The plugged in chainsaw is conveniently left hanging outside a window behind Chris, who, after grabbing it and dodging an axe blow, brings the chainsaw down onto Bill's head in self-defense. Chris then slams a pumpkin onto Bill's destroyed head and screams, "I JUST WANTED TO PARTY!" He exits the room, borrowing a security guard's phone to dial emergency services, explicitly pointing out that the scene is real - not art. He then leaves the exhibit as party-goers assume the murder scene is an art piece.
Chris disposes of his anti-anxiety medication and arrives home, where his cat, Sir Lancelot, finally gives him his chair back. Christopher sits down and turns on his television, still wearing his blood-soaked knight costume.
Cast
*Chris Sharp as Christopher Hawley, a lonely man who was invited to the murder party.
*Sandy Barnett as Alexander / Tim, leader of the group, who was then revealed to be a liar.
*
Macon Blair
Macon Blair (born 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, film producer, and comic book writer known for his roles in the films '' Blue Ruin'' and '' Green Room'', as well as his directorial debut ''I Don't Feel at Home in This World ...
as Macon, an unintelligent man who has a crush on Lexi.
*Paul Goldblatt as Paul, a man who causes the crew some trouble after inviting a photo assistant.
*William Lacey as Bill, a quiet man who goes crazy at the end after being lied to.
*Stacy Rock as Lexi, an energetic girl with a crazy personality.
*Skei Saulnier as Sky, a reasonable member of the group.
*Bill Tangradi as Zycho, Alexander's bloodthirsty right hand man.
*Puff Snooty as Sir Lancelot, Chris' cat.
*Beryl Guceri as Paul's Photo Assistant
*
Beau Sia
Beau Sia (, born 1976) is an American Poetry slam, slam poet.
Life and career
Sia was born in Ohio. He is of Chinese-Filipino descent. Raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Sia discovered spoken word poetry on MTV as a teenager. When not particip ...
as Cicero, a friend of the group who hosts an art project.
The Lab of Madness
The Lab of Madness began with Christopher Sharp,
Macon Blair
Macon Blair (born 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, film producer, and comic book writer known for his roles in the films '' Blue Ruin'' and '' Green Room'', as well as his directorial debut ''I Don't Feel at Home in This World ...
, and
Jeremy Saulnier
Jeremy Saulnier (; born June 10, 1976) is an American film director, cinematographer and screenwriter.
Career
In 2007, he released his first feature film, ''Murder Party'' which he wrote and directed starring his childhood friend, Macon Blair.
...
as they were growing up in the 1980s and shooting short horror films on a
VHS Camcorder
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
and
Super 8. Their first film was made in the 6th grade and was titled ''Megacop'' (1986). Later they were joined by Paul Goldblatt, Sandy Barnett, and Bill Lacey. The group would often do school assignments as video projects, so their vast filmography includes interpretations of classical works such as ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' and ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, BÄ“owulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
''. After high school, all went to various film schools and kept in touch.
The Lab of Madness' first attempt at a
feature
Feature may refer to:
Computing
* Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch
* Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob
* Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software item ...
was a
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
titled ''Moustache''. They shot a short film titled ''Crabwalk'' in an attempt to get
funding
Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...
for the film. After failing to find
investors
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
, the group decided to
greenlight
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
''Murder Party'' with no money in August 2005, and in February 2006 they began shooting.
[''Extreme Truth: The Making of Murder Party'']
Production
The shoot was rough with many taking multiple roles on the production. Despite the freezing set, a tight knit crew emerged. Much of the planned
special effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...
had to be compromised due to
budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...
constraints but because of this a lot more focus was put on a few individual effects. Visual effects artist
Chris Connelly was brought in to work in
post-production
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
The ...
on the make up effects to supplement what was done on set.
Reception
The film holds a 100% critic rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 6 reviews.
References
External links
*
*
*
Interview with The Lab of Madnesson ''MonsterFresh.com''
{{Jeremy Saulnier
2007 films
2007 horror films
American comedy horror films
Films directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Films shot in New York City
Films set in Brooklyn
Halloween horror films
Magnolia Pictures films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films