Dead Mans Party (2011)

(Screener Copy)
Directed by Markus Baldwin

Written by Markus Baldwin and Julie Mitchell

Stars: Markus Baldwin, Richard Beatty, Adam Grimes, Jeremy Guskin, Carissa Costa, Carl Lundstrom, Julie Mitchell, Shon Little, Tatum Adair








Dead Mans Party marks a first for Hacked in the Head, in that its not really a horror film. It has the set up of one and is structured throughout as one but it never actually (purposefully mind you) delivers the serious chills and spills. Instead, Dead Mans Party is a painfully funny satire, poking fun at all of your standard horror flick cliches and scenarios and it works exceptionally well for it. That said the opening is fairly horrorific (keep that window closed!)...just dont expect that particular tone to remain.

The plot involves four friends and one newbie who return to a beach house they used to visit together when a now deceased friend was still with them. Unfortunately for our motley group of  pals, said dead dude is now living in the beach house and he intends to scare them off. A series of strange occurrences begins to alert the friends that they are 'not alone' and they must work together to figure out who or what is trying to mess with them - with hilarious results. Plus all is not what it seems.....

Firstly I want to say that the characters in this film are excellent. The five youngsters who all come together are varying in personality; from the side splittingly ditzy Sara (a fun performance by Carissa Costa) to the acerbic Jill (one liners delivered with skill and ease by Julie Mitchell) and the self concious/neurotic Zach (possibly my favourite performance by Adam Grimes). Watching these five interact and start to try to deal with the haunting at the beach house provides constant entertainment throughout and I dare anyone not to be amused in the slightest. (If you arent I would check for a pulse!)

However great actors playing funny characters need good material so I also want to commend the writing. The funny one liners just keep coming; Sara: 'I'm Sara'....Jill:  'Good for you' or 'Goodnight Johnny!'.....'Asshole!'....and lets not forgot 'Are.....you...bleeding...from...your...vagina?'.  Markus Baldwin obviously knows his comedy and I cannot wait to see more his work both as a director and a writer.

The film is really well made also, you can tell its an indie BUT its really well shot, the sound is perfect and the casting was absoutely spot on. I recommend Dead Mans Party for those of you who want to get a break from some of the more serious horror films and even the over the top gory yet fun ones. You can find more out about the film right HERE and I urge you to check it out when you can!