Murder Party

Plot synopsis:
Christopher, a lonely and plain man, finds an invitation to a Halloween costume party entitled "Murder Party", on the street. Constructing a knight costume out of cardboard, he makes his way to Brooklyn 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 cheerleader), Lexi (Daryl Hannah's replicant character from Blade Runner), 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 Alexander. Christopher 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, and didn't know about them. The group asks if she'll be OK, and she agrees explaining she's only a little dizzy and needs to sit down, however she falls over and hits her head on some old machinery and dies. The group hides the body, as they are embarrassed and don't want their patron to see it when he arrives. After dumping the body in a deep freezer, Macon blames Christopher for Sky's death and attempts to murder him before Alexander arrives by pouring a jar of acid on him. The acid has no effect as it is only a jar of Acetic Acid (vinegar).
The patron finally arrives to the Murder Party with a friend Zycho (who is unknown to the group), and his dog Hellhammer. Alexander is also dressed as a gothic vampire, but his costume is considerably cheaper than Paul's. Out of jealousy, Alexander forces Paul to completely remove his vampire costume while Zycho holds him at gunpoint. Alexander reveals that Zycho is his drug dealer and he was only joking with Paul, telling him the gun wasn't real. 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 Christopher in unison. While Macon leaves to pick up some pizza, Alexander has sex with Lexi. Macon arrives back to see the two having sex and this makes Macon visibly upset. Macon begins binge drinking hard alcohol in response and ends up covering himself in alcohol in the process. Paul, a photography artist, begins taking pictures of Christopher and is frustrated that no one will assist him.
Zycho, visibly bored with the party, asks Alexander if they could leave and Alexander whispers something in his ear in response. Alexander then suggests that the group play a game of ultimate truth or dare. They will all take a shot of Sodium Pentothal (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. During this time, Bill who has mostly kept to himself playing a PSP and shown little visible interest in the proceedings, asks the group what they say about him behind his back. They tell him they make fun of him and plan on throwing him out of the group, but only because his work is so much better than theirs. This angers Bill and he goes back to playing his PSP. 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. Macon is now extremely inebriated and goes outside to smoke a cigarette. Still covered in alcohol, Macon is engulfed in flames as he lights the cigarette, and only Christopher notices.
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 Sodium Pentothal. The groups asks 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 but still alive, gets his chainsaw and uses it to attack Zycho, killing him and passing out shortly afterward. Lexi immediately begins to untie Christopher, 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, Christopher, who has now escaped. Macon awakes and pursues Bill with an electric chainsaw to take revenge for Lexi. The chase leads them to an Arts student party. Chris attempts to hide in a performance art exhibit and Bill is approached by the organizer and asked if 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 Christopher. 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 in front of a window where Christopher is trapped. Christopher uses the chainsaw to stop Bill (by killing him), and leaves the exhibit as partygoers assume the murder scene is an art piece.
Christopher arrives home and 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.

Tags: cult, satire, murder, violence, romantic

Review:
For those of you who like dark comedy, horror movies and action, and want something new and refreshing, watch Murder Party.Oh, yeah, after watching it you'll learn that even a "cat" will understand that the master has had a really, really bad day..
The story - normal guy finds a note inviting him to come to a Halloween party where art students are waiting with a plan to murder him for the sake of art) while a bit outlandish, was serviceable.
Accepting a strange party invitation, a middle-aged man finds that the event is really a ruse by a group of psychopaths intending to kill him only to continually thwart their attempts in the process and has to save himself from the remaining group finishing what they started.This could've been quite the fun and enjoyable effort.
The general concept of their ruse makes for a fun twist that's given right at the beginning of the film and the utterly cheesy premise has a lot of time to really work itself out with plenty of crazy encounters featuring him at the mercy of the group.
As well, the way this quickly delves into the bonkers territory with their games and torture tactics which has a sense of unease in what's going on as they go through their routines and games with him which is where this one does slip somewhat but still has enough overt weirdness about it to really generate some fun times with their treatment of him setting up the film's best aspects in the final half.
Having just read a review that describes this as a "Jerseyites view of the NY art scene", that is both astonishingly patronising (the whole point of the movie,idiot!)and unbelievably "jejeune" (wink), I have to say how much I love this film."Indie" cinema has been relegated to either a kickstart for the career of a middling celebrity, or a vacuum for self referentialism or schlock."Murder Party" is neither: it is witty,genuinely left field, and kind of touching.
It is black-as-black comedy rarely performed well nowadays.A hapless,lonely but genuinely nice,traffic warden on Halloween gets captured by a group of desparado wannabe celeb artists, after responding to a "murder party" advert.
I normally don't like it when horror movies try to be funny.
I personally rarely even laugh at standard comedies like "superbad", but this movie was great.
MURDER PARTY is a supposed spoof of slasher movies, thrillers where people are held hostage as well as a vehicle for poking fun at art generally.The plot sees Chris, a somewhat lonely guy who lives alone with a cat, finding an invitation to a murder party.
There is no party and Chris finds himself trapped by a group of deranged drug addicts who plan to kill him and film the act.The first few minutes of the movie were quite good and suitably misleading for what is to follow.
He would have been great in a different movie.By the time he gets to the party, things go downhill quickly.
Some scenes carry on like this for 10 minutes or more, making the modest running time drag out somewhat.The direction is very much along the lines of parodies such as SCARY MOVIE.
The gags are telegraphed in advance, the attempts at humour are massively overplayed, there is comic music in the background when Chris tries to escape and there are some incredibly silly special effects.I am a fan of "so-bad-it's-good" movies such as CAMP BLOOD, THE NAIL GUN MASSACRE, TROLL 2, DON'T GO IN THE WOODS and CHOPPING MALL just to name a few.
Comparing these laugh riots to MURDER PARTY proves that humour deriving from a serious subject only works when it is UNINTENTIONAL.Overall, MURDER PARTY is a seriously unfunny movie that has one interesting thing about it - the main character.
Hell, look at Kevin Smith's 'Clerks' for proof.The director of 'Murder Party' has gone on to make some very well received horror/thriller films, so it very cool to see where he, Jeremy Saulnier, got his start.
Being rather lonely he takes up the invitation and soon finds he will be the subject of the murder.From here things get strange and sometimes quite humorous.It's certainly worth a look and you won't feel you've wasted your time..
After having seen Blue Ruin and Green Room I was very curious to check out Jeremy Saulnier's first film, Murder Party.
Though watching this movie after having seen his other two films, it was interesting to see how he's grown as a filmmaker.
If you want a funny bloody Halloween flick, I would definitely recommend MURDER PARTY!!!.
Fun yet very bizarre movie that follows a group that plans a murder party and drops a random invite on the street not really expecting anyone to show up to be killed, for real all in the name of "art" THe movie is basically humor, then drug induced inside jokes, then a complete full on blood bath.
All of these people who star in this movie really must of had ALL their friends and family write great reviews for this utter waste of time.
I actually even mentioned to my boyfriend before we started it, that I had never seen so many great reviews in a row, for any movie (especially a horror flick.) Should of listened to my gut and passed this one by..
Jeremy Saulnier's feature film debut may not be as refined or focused as his breakthrough effort but it does succeed as a wicked horror comedy that's definitely crazy, twisted & ludicrous and in spite of its crude look & amateurish feel, manages to provide many good surprises along the way.The story follows a lonely guy who stumbles across an invitation to a Halloween costume party and, having nothing to do, decides to attend it, but soon discovers it to be a trap set by a group of deranged art students who intend to kill him as part of their art project to impress their patron.Written & directed by Jeremy Saulnier (best known for Blue Ruin & Green Room), Murder Party is shot with almost no money yet what it puts on the screen not only makes it a refreshing delight but also showcases the director's knowledge of the genre(s) & his eye for carving moments that are tense & engaging.Complemented by a thrilling score, aptly utilizing its camera to intensify the atmosphere, brilliantly balancing the elements of its genre(s), and certainly not holding back on violence or gore, the plot gets more n more demented as it progresses and completely snaps in the final act, killing anything & everything in its path.The characters inhabiting the story are nothing more than a bunch of losers, unworthy of any emotional attachment but it's the little details about them & their actions that provides majority of laughs.
Performance isn't the film's strongest suit but Macon Blair & Chris Sharp are still hilarious in their roles.On an overall scale, Murder Party does manage to live up to its name and is an amusing, ridiculous & farcical indie that's as absurd as it is entertaining.
Jeremy Saulnier is one of my favorite directors right now, his two most recent films (Green Room & Blue Ruin) are two of the best movies I have seen in the last five years or so.
I originally saw Murder Party years ago when it first came out but I was too young to fully appreciate it and didn't really have too many memories of it, once I realized that Murder Party was in fact Saulnier's directorial debut I knew I had to go back and check it out again.The film centers around a lonely young man (Chris Hawley) who lives alone and has no real plans for Halloween other than sitting at home with his cat watching horror movies.
I love the plot of this movie and the overall comedic tone of it as well, the film never takes it's self too seriously and they do an excellent job of mocking the art scene.
I was very pleased with the way the characters were all written, I loved how calm and casual they all were through all the insane events that transpired throughout the film.The acting was all top notch for a low budget flick, especially Macon Blaire's performance (who has been featured in all of Saulnier's films so far).
It's very rare that horror comedies are able to be genuinely funny but "Murder Party" really succeeds in that sense, it never felt like the comedy was forced or anything which made the jokes really land for me.
One of the things I really like about Jeremy Saulnier's films is how brutal and violent they are, and "Murder Party" definitely doe not disappoint there.
It's maybe not the most original premise for a horror movie, but that premise is more or less abandoned as more people show up to the murder party, old rivalries start to flare up, and mayhem and bloodshed start to ensue.
This movie has most of the elements that you'd want from a good horror-comedy; it's got a good amount of gore and a good amount of humor.
Much of the humor of this movie comes from poking fun at the whole "starving underground Brooklyn hipster vegan artist" scene, so if you don't find that sort of thing funny, many of the jokes in this film won't really do it for you.
I think these scenes were intended to be funny, but none of the humor really worked for me and it just felt like the movie was killing time.
You do get some good laughs in the third act from the murderers, but they don't really feel scary anymore since we've just spent the last hour of the movie poking fun at them.
Im sorry to say, this was absolute terrible, don't even bother watching it nothing happens apart from some random killing at the end, seriously its pathetic, and i've seen a lot of films lol...It starts of with a terrible opener, music sucks, i was bored in the first minute to be honest.Then he randomly gets taken hostage..
Especially in the Second Half when things start to come to a Climax filled with Gore and Suspense.The First Half builds on Dark Humor and a Laid-Back Feeling of a Psychotic Playground Populated with Misanthropes on a Mission to Snap and Murder ("Everyone Dies").When the Finale Ends Up in an Art Exhibit the Director's Eye for Stylistic Images Emerges and the Film Looks Beautiful as some of the Scenes are Presented Purely as "Art" ("Still Life").There's some Snappy Music and Insider Jokes for the Horror Crowd, enough Gorezone to Satisfy Hounds, and it's All Done with Exceptional Makeup and SFX that Never Looks Cheap.Overall, one of the Best Indies out there, a Grisly, Gritty, Black-Comedy-Horror..
A bunch of pretentious (psychopathic!) art students send out random invitations for strangers to attend the titular Halloween 'murder party.' Their reasons...
There's a few nice moments of black humour which help out the viewing and it is a pretty short film (it needs to be!).It's not awful, but I felt like there were long periods of time that felt like they had only been put in there to extend the runtime of a movie that doesn't really have enough plot to warrant it being anything other than a TV episode (length)..
This is not only a really original idea for a horror movie, but it also has interesting characters, nice gore and effects and some really good laughs.
Murder Party has a really unique feel to it that is hard to find in any other movies.
Once upon a time, I felt like watching a movie.
He soon finds out that he has made a dire mistake, putting his fate in the hands of murderous college students who want to kill him as art.What's simply wonderful about this film is how they manage Horror-Comedy.
There are a few really funny moments in this horror comedy, don't get me wrong, and the gore effects later on are pretty good, but the whole thing just feels like a few friends just sat together one afternoon in a warehouse with a camcorder, took way many drugs and filmed some stuff, then stitched a story around it.It's fun, but ultimately not good.
But I will tell you that most people that watch this movie will want to copy the Halloween costumes because they are so awesome!
This review is obviously way after the film release, but I love this movie so much I had to show my appreciation.
Murder Party is without a doubt one of my quintessential Halloween movies I watch every year.
I love this film and it's a shot in the arm for seasonal movies like this.
A horror-comedy about murder as performance art, this movie has pacing problems; the slow build becomes a drag, and then suddenly everyone's dead in thirty seconds.
It was very unpleasant to look at, not in a dark or creepy kind of way like in movies such as The Omen (1976) or The Fly, both of which are great and disturbing.The main character was a bore, just someone leading a quiet life and then put into a strange situation.
Alexander brings to the party a drug-dealing foreigner with a gun named Zycho(Bill Tangradi)who has a barbiturate which works as a truth serum and doping agent..this will bring out the buried secrets which will compel murderous acts along with a very unstable painter modeling his costume after the baseball furies from "The Warriors" who needed such a place to unleash his hidden desires for bloodshed.While the graphic violence rears it's ugly head at the end, most of this film is a satire on artists and their pursuit for achieving success.
There's even an ax attack on artists during an exhibit performance.I'm pretty sure many will be wondering whether or not(..as they are watching the film)this will ever have murders during the party because the director builds up to it by exposing the artists and their MANY faults as they seem to delay the inevitable.
Who cares?Photographed, written & directed by Jermey Saulnier I am amazed at how many good reviews Murder Party but at the same time I am not surprised by all the terrible reviews it has also, maybe this is a love it or hate it film & if it is then put me firmly in the latter camp.
Just flicking through some of these reviews & apart from wondering if I saw the same film I get the impression that Murder Party is meant to be funny, I must admit while watching it I didn't laugh once & I honestly can't remember a single instance of intentional humour, I really can't.
The IMDb says this has a runtime of eighty odd minutes but it felt like hours to me last night, a slow paced, unfunny, unscary mess of a film that might have worked better as a thirty minute telly show with a twist ending of some sort.The opening credits to Murder Party are revealing as the same names keep coming up & it seems clear this was made by a small number of people who obviously did several jobs.
The best aspect of the production is that each character is dressed in some sort of Halloween costume which gives the film a certain vibe.This probably had a budget that wouldn't stretch to a round of drinks at your local pub & it shows with the virtually entire thing set in one part of a warehouse.
The acting didn't do anything for me although I have seen worse.Murder Party is a film that I pretty much hated apart from the the basic plot & the fact the lead character's are all dressed in odd Halloween costumes, despite that I still didn't like it & thought it was a complete waste of my time..
The story behind this movie is genuinely heart-warming and inspirational, especially to anyone who's even vaguely considering film-making as a career.If you like senseless gore, making fun of pretentious hipsters, watching people take hard drugs, or seeing a middle aged man running around in a stupid looking cardboard costume, this movie is for you..
When i started to watch Murder Party, i was definitely expecting a pretty typical horror movie, since neither the plot, nor the poster would promise anything more.
But as soon as Chris follows the invitation and we get to know our "bad guys", you begin to realize that this is really not your typical movie.
My favorites are the beautiful Lexi and Macon, which are both people that i'd like to be friends with (without the killing though^^).In short: A great movie for Halloween, which just is fun from the beginning to the end.
Hawley (a solid and likeable performance by Chris Sharp) finds an invitation to a Halloween costume party that he discovers is actually a trap concocted by a group of unhinged artists who plan on killing him.
Murder Party comes to my attention by the Nostalgia Critic in one of his videos, which I find weird because he don't talk about indie ever, that make me think maybe this movie was that movie we all find at 3 a.m. in some obscure corner of TV and just give it a chance, pretty much what happened to me with "Stitches" another dark comedy I really recommend.
Well, about Murder Party, I really love the subtle humor in it, they have this extravagant characters and they know how to use them.
So Chris decides to go to this dubious Halloween "Murder Party".
Furthermore he finds out in a painful manner that he is the guest of honor of this "Murder Party" and that his life will be exhaled in an artful way this night Halloween inspired a lot of horror movies since it is a nice frame for a movie of this genre.