Monster party directed by Chris Von Hoffman is a very watchable and competently made horror/ splatter movie. Yes movies like this have been done before, yes there is lots of obvious blood and gore, yes it is filled with psychos doing there typical psycho killer thing. But ya know it was actually kind of fun and filmed pretty well to boot. It is very violent and sadistic. The movie revolves around a girl and two guys who rob houses and are led into the house that is the setting for the movie and the so called "Monster party". No need to get into details about the plot, that is the jist of it. If you are a horror movie lover, I would say give this one a shot. Though ya know I am still not too sure about the ending. I would have probably went somewhere different with it. The movie also stars Robin Tunney and Lance Reddick which undoubtedly made the movie a little better because of it. I'll give this one a 6.5. It had some pretty crazy kills in it.
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Andrew_Wiper18 November 2018
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flowerstardust197912 November 2018A breath of fresh air to see something a little different from the usual horror flicks. You're not really sure for the first 30 minutes, who these rich people are. It's obvious that something's off about them, but you'll have to wait and see. I won't bother going into the plot, as it's basic without adding spoilers. Not really sure why this only got 5 stars. Compared to some of the mainstream blockbusters I've recently watched, this was probably better than 90% of the garbage I've watched this year. It's bloody, messy, crazy, original, and great fun for those who love the gore genre.
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jadiepie-0679516 January 2020A lot of people gave this really harsh reviews. The film isn't the best by any means but it is a fun watch. It's campy and gory and has its own style. The gore effects in it are really good and the acting for some of the characters is sublime. Definitely worth the watch if your in the mood for a fun slasher. Definitely has its faults but it was an enjoyable watch.
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arfdawg-11 December 2018Well first of all ignore all the 10 ratings. Fake reviews. I'd also ignore all the 1 ratings since they are people who don't like the 10 ratings.
My review is my honest opinion. I started watching this and thought it was sort of dumb. But then literally just as I was about to shut it off, it started getting good.
Turns out it's a really weird ride. In a decent way. There's a lot of violence that keeps your attention and it's sort of a little bit campy too. Just enough to make you wonder if it's a satire.
So here's the honest deal -- all the super positive and super negative reviews cancel each other out and you're left with a 5, which is just about right for this flick. Maybe a 6 on a good day. -
Three young burglars pose as butlers n enter a big mansion with the intent of robbing a la Dont Breathe. One of the burglar is in dire need of money as his father is held captive for non payment of money lost in gambling a la The Collector. Good to c Robin Tunney aft a long time. We also get to c another known face Lance Reddick as the leader of the cult who in order to prevent further killings, peels off the skin from the face of an unruly guest. The film has lots of violence n gore. It's been a long time seeing a katana being used to slice off body parts. A head gets chopped off like a watermelon. I found the cinematography very good considering the budget. The houses shown were damn beautiful. Malibu is indeed beautiful.
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nebk5 November 2018Monster Party starts off with three teenage/twenty somethings deciding to rob a house party which they are supposed to cater at. They have been committing similar crimes on a smaller scale but one member of the group needs a substantial amount of money to pay off his fathers gambling debts. The problem with their plan is that they are attempting to rob a family of serial killers who are hosting their annual party celebrating the fact that they and their friends are handling their addictions and not killing people. Unfortunately one of the killers falls off the wagon so to speak and mayhem and bloodshed ensue.
The idea for the movie was promising although reminiscent of movies like Don't Breath and Get Out (both of which are much better). The problem is that whilst the movie starts off well enough it has tissue paper thin characters who make inexplicable and illogical decisions and the overall result is a cliche of a movie. The acting ranges from competent to cheesy. The fact that the family has a facially disfigured sociopathic son locked in the basement also drags the movie down further and makes it look like something out of Wrong Turn and not a sophisticated group of killers trying their hardest not to kill. Then there is the issue when the killer family and their friends start taking each other out for a very dubious and badly explained reason. Ultimately the movie explains almost nothing about the main characters or their motivations.
Overall a mess that could have been a cool horror movie but ended up being a string of cliches that is forgettable. A weak 4 out of 10. -
natcalgary15 November 2018If you like gore and strange movies this one is not too bad. Great acting, and for a movie shot in 17 days it's kind of incredible.
6.1 -
patrickbivona4 May 2019A decent slasher film that is just missing more. ... more deaths, more character development, and more of a story. There are some pretty stupid moments, but its an ok watch.
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Gordon-119 June 2020The story starts off a little sinister, then goes full blown horror. It is so gory that it is funny at times.
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peterp-450-29871621 August 2019Them yuppie scums won't know what hit them.
Perhaps it would be better that future burglars screen the residents of the targeted house first and then see if there's something to get. That's certainly a lesson those young burglars have learned in the movie "Monster Party". After seeing the mansion they're planning to rob, they're convinced that the loot will be big enough. What they didn't expect was an utter crazy company at dinner with a fairly dark secret. A kind of AA meeting. But not the "A" of alcohol but the "A" of aggression. And this with a capital A.
My expectations weren't high at all. I thought the movie would be a second-class slasher once again. And what bothered me the most about the film, was the fact that it's a combination of humor and horror. And let that now be the combination I least believe in. While watching most of these types of horrors I always get the feeling that neither of the two genres is completed. Most of the time the humor is so lousy that I can't even smile. And at the same time, the horror story is usually only moderately worked out. Well, a person can be wrong. In the case of "Monster Party" I was completely wrong. Both the cynical, black humor (the kind of humor I like the most) and the bloody and creepy parts weren't that bad.
When the three juvenile criminals Dodge (Brandon Michael Hall), Casper (Sean Strike) and Iris (Virginia Gardner) choose this larger target where they can demonstrate their burglar's talent, they aren't realizing that they are plunging into a hornet's nest. The Dawsons are a wealthy family who organizes a dinner party at their large country house and Iris happens to work there as a waitress for the appointed catering company. The three youngsters all have a good (financial) reason to take the risk. From the outset, you have this feeling that the members of this company aren't functioning normally.
Have you watched the trailer already? Well, then you already know how it unfolds. Impatient gore fans most probably will be waiting nervously for that moment when the madness starts. And that waiting will be rewarded. Not only because of the bloody situations (and they were reasonably inventive as to how some were slaughtered). But also because of the extraordinary acting performances. Especially Kian Lawley, as the crazy son Elliot whose gaze is a mix of madness and sadism (and he enjoys it), and Julian McMahon as host Patrick whose ultra-calm appearance is really nothing more than a masquerade. Virginia Gardner also acts excellently at specific moments. And for the first time, I even thought that these bloody events were amusing. And there's more. Director Hoffman has a little surprise in store. Normally I would say this type of surprise was a bit exaggerated. Not now. I thought it was a nice contribution to the movie.
I'm pretty sure "Monster Party" was made with a micro-budget. The number of locations in this film is fairly limited and the massacres usually take place off-camera. But the main characteristic of a low-budget film wasn't present here. Mostly the acting-part is rather tedious and crappy in low-budget movies. But in "Monster Party" the acting is far from amateurish or toe-curling bad. On the contrary. And they acted with noticeable pleasure. Cinematographically it looks slick. The pace is just right. And there's even a feeling of tension as the plot unfolds. In short, a noteworthy film you definitely don't need to avoid. Watch it when you get the opportunity.
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ebrownlee5 July 2019The characters are all unlikable, and the storyline is disorganized. The one person you can get behind faces the most issues without any payoff. I see people saying it's different or out of the box, but all the "plot twists" are very expected and not great. I watched the whole movie hoping it would turn around, but I was left so disappointed.
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vonschmeel3 November 2018Just watch it, its a brilliant movie about 3 burglars trying to rob a party, held by serial killers. it has a great cast and story it is well worth checking out.
ignore those fools who gave this 1 star!? these people should be banned from reviewing anything other than Disney movies... -
We've all seen movies that feel like they can't make up their mind what they want to be, that never find their tone, or have an off sense of pacing, where nothing seems to happen for a long time, and then too much happens in quick succession, and you're either not paying attention or have stopped caring.
"Monster Party" is guilty of all that, sure, but it's a bit different to the norm in the sense that it's final scenes seem like they were directed by a completely different person than everything that led up to it. We get a long, tedious introduction sequence, finally the violence we have all been waiting for at the half way point, some totally uninspired pseudo-thriller cat-and-mouse sequences, and irritatingly non-threatening villains.
Then the movie goes full horror in the last fifteen-or-so minutes, with some supernatural type events that I'm not sure it bothered to explain.
The only actor in the movie who could play scary is Lance Reddick, better known as Cedric Daniels on "The Wire". He is underserved here, as he is in every movie role I've seen him in. The decision to leave the real villainy up to some younger Bret Easton Ellis type characters is fatal to it ever becoming scary.
What is really egregious to the movie, however, is its totally out-of-whack pacing, its plot making no sense, and the mood seems going for a slow burn at the beginning and then turning into ridiculous hyper-kinetic carnage at the end. Or, the fact that the movie has too many characters with too many motivations, and you don't care about any of them and none make any impression, or, blah, blah, blah...
I could go on for a while listing everything wrong with this movie, but I'd rather just stop here. -
thelinnets20 March 2021The problem with this type of movie is they forgot rule number one which is to make the main characters likeable. They didnt make them likeable at all and therefore I just didnt care. Though the premise was good it was just too warped for me and I couldn't get into it. Very poor.
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kirbylee70-599-5261794 January 2019The sub-genre of dark horror comedies is small enough that it gets little notice but when done right can yield some truly inventive movies. EVIL DEAD and KRAMPUS are two movies that got it perfectly correct. Now with MONSTER PARTY we have another movie that comes close.
Casper (Sam Strike), Iris (Virginia Gardner) and Dodge (Brandon Michael Hall) are three friends who make a living pulling off small breaking and entering gigs. With Casper the third wheel and Iris and Dodge the couple, they live a carefree life for the most part. That changes when Casper's father, an addictive gambler, finds himself in deep debt to one of the nastiest of loan sharks. He gives Casper until the next day to come up with the cash.
The three discuss how they can come up with the money when Iris suggests that they accompany her to a party she's working as a waitress. Having worked the house before she knows there must be some heavy cash on hand. They agree and off they go to work as help for the party with the intent of finding a home safe to crack when time permits.
The party is hosted by Roxanne (Robin Tunney) and Patrick (Julian McMahon) Dawson. Living in a gated mansion they meet the two new helpers and set about preparing for the party. The guests begin arriving, each in an expensive car and dressed well. The party goes along fine and it isn't long before we learn that the man in charge is Milo (Lance Reddick). The gathering is a celebration and each member in the group is actually an addict. Along with the couple there is their children Elliot and Alexis, two of Elliot's friends Cameron and Jeremy and Ollie.
It isn't until later that we learn what their addiction is. As Casper and Dodge attempt the break in Elliott finds Dodge in the wrong room. Escorting him to the bathroom he claimed to be looking for he instead kills Dodge with a cleaver. The addiction becomes evident and was dropped in the trailer for the film. The gathering is for a group of serial killers who have remained clean. With Elliot falling off the wagon the urge once more creeps over the entire group. Will they satisfy their urge or will they find another solution that allows Iris and Casper a chance to escape?
Most horror movies begin with a bit of gore tossed out for the fans of that to be satisfied. While the beating of Casper's father is brutal it won't be what satisfies that type of fan. But trust me when I say that there is still plenty of gore infused humor that will keep them happy once things begin moving along.
This is not to say that the film doesn't have a story to it. In fact it presents more story than most movies of this type. The entire concept is actually a pretty good one with small time thieves caught up in a bigger problem. While they technically are bad guys you still feel for them and want the best for them. You have an emotional interest in them. And the bad guys are so elite and smarmy that you want the worst to happen to them.
But the movie isn't about class distinction or class warfare. It's about insane murderers and young people just trying to get way. On that level it works very well. It takes a while to get rolling but that's okay because the set up gives those with no clue of what to come a chance to soak in the characters. And the more you know them the more you love/hate them depending on which side you're rooting for.
Well made, well written with a tad few clichéd items involved the movie still comes off as more original than most horror films made these days. And the acting ranges from okay to well done. On the whole the movie is fun for horror fans and for those who enjoy a bit of a thriller now and then. It was nice to see Tunney acting again since she's done very little since the show THE MENTALIST was canceled. This one is worth a watch unless you're squeamish. -
pseawrig27 July 2019This is one of those predator-becomes-the-prey horror movies, which now seem to be popping up as frequently as the omg-someone's-living-in-my-walls horror movies. I really liked this premise when I first saw it fully addressed in The Collector (2009), which for better or worse explored it super seriously. Monster Party develops this premise super flippantly- so much so that pretty much everyone in the movie is a psychopathic murderer.
You may now be thinking that Monster Party is perhaps a clever dark comedy. No, that would be the similarly titled Murder Party (2007), which smartly explores the dark comic potential of the predator-becomes-the-prey premise by having its predators ineptly destroy themselves and each other. All while simultaneously lampooning the desperate confluence of art and hipsterism. Meanwhile, Monster Party is not funny and not serious. A generous appraisal would call it absurdist. I'd call it eventful, but vacant.
In terms of production values, the movie is visually impressive. It looks crisp and garish, an aesthetic that the character of the mother indirectly references when she describes the intense lucidity she feels when she murders. The actress who plays this role (Robin Tunney) is compelling! She stands out among the rest of the casts' competent, but ordinary performances (even Lance Reddick kinda phones it in).
The sound in this movie! The score is wildly overbearing. It prominently features lots of clamorous noise and booming bass, I guess partly cuz it's a supposed to be a party, but I think mostly to cover the lameness of the kills. Every time the weapons come out, the noise and the score get way, way loud, as if to mask the fact that the film edits its kills into a million short, hard-to-see close-ups or, even worse, stages them just offscreen.
I did watch this movie to its end, so I suppose there's that. The last five minutes made me regret it. Maybe the screenwriter thought that the audience would not anticipate what happens. I did . . . at the outset . . . and the film mind-numbingly delivered. -
laheeb_azmey10 November 2018One of the worst movies I have ever seen. No plot, not scary, unbelievable an not professional effects, it is just a bag of torn body parts that has been cut off in a funny unrealistic way.
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matthewh-998979 February 2021If you can relax and see it for what it is, you'll have a good time. It was obvious to me that it was a comedy/horror right off the bat, so not to be analyzed for serious elements or realism. And some of the twists are surprising! Just when you think you got it pegged, nope!
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BandSAboutMovies22 May 2019Three young thieves - Casper (Sam Striker from 2017's Leatherface and the TV show Nightflyers), Iris (Virginia Gardner, the latest Halloween) and Dodge (Brandon Micheal Hall, the TV show God Friended Me) - decide to rob the mansion where Iris works as a caterer to raise the money to save Casper's dad, but when the house locks down, everyone shows their true faces. Yep, this is a serial killer support group.
It's awesome to see Robin Tunney (The Craft, Prison Break) in a big role and she's great here. Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck and Charmed is her husband who desperately wants to go back to his killing ways. Lance Reddick (Oz, The Wire) is great in a small role as their teacher and leader. Blue Collar Comedy member Bill Engvall even shows up here.
There are some cute asides to past movies, such as every family member being some slasher archetype down to the maniac chained up in the basement. The movie Mother's Day is even playing in the son's room. I'd probably like this more if it didn't feel so indebted to Don't Breathe.
Some have said this is a return to 90's Tarantino filmmaking. I say that's lazy easy labeling. This isn't that good. It's fun, but it isn't that good. -
saoryb-788513 December 2018This film is a must watch! It's incredibly entertaining and non-cliched! The performances by well-known actors like Julian McMahon, Virginia Gardner and Erin Moriarty, to name a few, are solid all the way around. Definitely not your typical horror flick. The director does a great job at building up climax while maintaining elements of suspense throughout the film. If you are a fan of the genre you will definitely enjoy the crazy kills! And if you are not a horror film fan you should still give this film a shot. Highly recommended.
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westsideschl16 January 2019It started slow w/the usual cheap opening scenes of overhead view of road then ground level view of our characters moving along said road. A creative script for a not-your-usual murder plot. The great over-the-top acting sold this unlikely get together, and it's outcomes. For the most part keeps you guessing as to who lives or dies. The near ending got a bit bogged down in cliches, but then it picked up a bit. Note: One interesting subtitling misspelling was using "come" for the more sexually explicit phoneme. Liked the ending credit of "Filmed in the rough & tumble state of California with zero incentives."
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aninovakovic31 December 2018Acting was okay, but how the story was told doesn't make it a comedy horror, it makes it just another bad movie. It's like he tried to remake the artificial moonlight and elite parties from the movie Eyes Wide Shut but didn't quite have the effect he wanted. And who the hell was that disfigured dude down the in the basement? The Babadook?
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This movie has one big advantage: it's not afraid to show blood. one or two killings are actually cool. the characters are nothing special, but they're ok and i did enjoy the premise. everything it's underdeveloped, but that's campiness and the movie has a cool b grade vibe. plus, we want some of the characters to "lose" and the film has some creative points.
but then...the camera... oh jesus it looks like a milkshake: it shakes all over the place. shaky,shaky,shaky cam everywhere. cuts and cuts and cuts all over the place. the light is also not the best. we want to se some of the cool killings, but they have 13546 thousand cuts and then the imaginery is completely destroyed. the movie can't create any tension because of that. comedy? in some tiny bits yes, but i wanted to see some of the killings in more detail and the movie doesn't let you.
this is not a bad idea, even though even for an horror flick has a huge unrealistic ending but still that's fine. the problem is how it was shot, full of cuts and shaky cuts the actors are ok, we can see some known faces here, but yeah...the directing...jeez.
doesn't deserve more than a 4 because of that. and it's too bad because if this was better shot could have been way funnier. i also didn't like the sudden ending of some characters, they deserved bigger killings and not so immediate deaths. but still that would be ok with better camera shots.