KWEENY REVIEWS: Killer Party and talks HHMMM!

Once again the moon is full, the month is October, and I have crawled out of my putrid grave to celebrate! And I'm thinking, let's start off this month of MADNESS with a movie review!

For those of you unawares, I spend the month of October doing a crazy movie watching contest called HALLOWEEN HORROR MOVIE MARATHON MADNESS, or MADNESS for short. It's a Facebook group that is full of nerds like me, who like to use October as an excuse to marathon the shit out of every horror or Halloween themed movie in existence! My team is called Team Killing Joke, after one of my favorite Joker stories. There's a lot of cool events and teams this year, and our theme for movie watching is:

So when I got emailed to do a review of the movie KILLER PARTY, it seemed almost like destiny that I wait and review it at the start of the Horror Marathon! Bring on the crazy clown! *honk*

Killer Party is about a bunch of acting friends get together for a baby shower. Little do they know, this baby shower will turn into a fight for their lives! When some weird phenomenon makes people go completely bonkers, (not quite a zombie outbreak, because people who get sick retain all their normal functions. Which makes them a little scary.) these quirky friends try to survive and find a way out.

It's a simple set up, nothing that hasn't been done before. Except the clown from the party gets sick. And then some of their neighbors. And then some of their friends. The shenanigans the group gets up to doing things like look for food is some funny shit! I laughed so hard during some scenes, but I don't want to spoil it and tell you too many details...

Another thing I loves was the failed actors group. Each one had a unique character they brought to the group, even the ones that seemed like assholes. If they were amateur actors for real, I don't know. But I do think they gave convincing performances. So many times when I watch indie films the acting is th first to go. Glad to say this isn't the case here. I think people just had fun shooting this film, and it comes out. It's not filmed in a special way, but it's decent cinematography. Each character felt like they had a good moment, and a reason to be there. and I have to applaud Mary (Played by Rachael Dummond) for being actually pregnant on set! That belly is real folks! The clown is probably my other favorite character. Just pure evil in bright colors. Does the clown get his comeuppance? Check out Killer Party and find out!

My final verdict is this is one to watch. It's funny, sincere, a little goofy, and somethings unnerving. Need another clown movie to get you full points during the HHMMM? Look for this one.

Kweeny's Recap of H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon!

This last weekend I got the chance to go to my first film festival. And it wasn't just any film festival. I went to the  H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon!

I didn't know what to expect when I got there, and I sadly missed half the festival. They had a really cool Speakeasy event on Thursday, but since I don't live in Portland it can be hard to get up there. My friend went and said it was fabulous, and people all dressed in 1920's fashion to keep with the Lovecraft theme. However, I did get there for Saturday and Sunday, and me and my friends watched many wonderful short films. The films were mostly really good. The odd one or two needed more fleshing out but nothing I saw was outright bad. I had my favorites of course, like Cool Air, Hum, The Stomach and The Littlest Cthulhuist.

Cool Air was a wonderful retelling of the short story by H.P. Lovecraft. They went out of their way to make it really feel like the 1920's too! I was impressed with everything.

Hum was a creepy short about how sound can drive someone completely mad. Having PTSD, I have felt similarly to how the poor lady felt in the film.  I can be triggered by sound sometimes, and it feels like it is killing you from the inside out. This film was well done.

The Stomach was a really creepy concept of a medium who holds spirits in his belly, and people talk through a tube he puts in his mouth to the spirits. It doesn't end well let's just put it that way.

And The Littlest Cthulhuist was hilarious! It was a fake documentary about families who are practicing "Cthulhu Witnesses". Things get out of hand of course, because one of the teachings of the Cthulhu Witnesses is, "We don't get mad. We get even!"

In between films I got the chance to wander around and check out the small village of booths with amazing art, all dark and inspired by monsters. I didn't have much money to buy anything, but I was impressed with a lot of the stuff I saw.

I also got the chance to hug and meet Jeffery Combs, which made my event! He is super charming and sweet. I would love to see him in more films, even if they aren't horror. We went to the viewing of Reanimator, which was the first time I have seen it on a big screen. It was great to hear people laugh at the same points I do. After the film Jeffery Combs did a great QA with the audience. He really appreciates the horror genre, but he did sound like he wished he could get more work. Acting is a hard gig, so I have nothing but respect for him.

I would highly recommend the film festival, especially if you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft. It is an amazing event, full of monsters and creeping dread! Perfect way to spend the beginning of October!

Happy Halloween month monsterkids! I will be back with more creepy goodies, so stay tuned to the blog!