Party Night (2018) by Troy Escamilla


Director: Troy Escamilla
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher

Plot:
Heading to a special after-party, a group of friends arrive at a secluded cabin in the woods for a special after-prom party only to find the area being stalked by a ravenous killer who begins to kill them off one-by-one and must find a way to stop him and get away from the house alive.

Review:

This one wasn't all that bad of a low-budget slasher. One of the main positives here is the rather solid homage to the old-school slasher setups that's usually featured here. The general setup of the group heading out into the middle of the woods for a secluded party no one knows about and coming across the killer hunting in the area serves as the usually fun setup that emerges here as the to-the-point storyline and shorter running time keeps this quite heavily in line with that style.

That, in turn, leads into the other big aspect to like here with the slashing scenes which typically take on the quick and brutal style. From the opening spree murders that set the film up, to the deaths around the cabin that spring up and feature them finding the killer taking them out which forces them to engage in several confrontations with him around the cabin which has some fun encounters. Preparing the way for the final girl chase around the cabin finding all the dead bodies left around for the final confrontation, these here are all that really hold this one up.


Among the first problem here is the utter ridiculous storyline that offers up no real sense at all. The idea of the group of kids going to a cabin in the woods that a friend owns the night after prom lets out is such a goofy premise for these kinds of genre efforts and really stretches the kind of incredulity already when it covers their lack of a party that concerns ridiculously petty teenage problems since this weak idea doesn’t really work well enough to last for a feature-length idea. To have this one struggle deeply to be credible enough to be realistic in it's main setup is a rather huge hurdle.

Lastly, the film is so cheaply made that it’s nearly impossible to take this seriously in the slightest. The sound is so hard to hear that it’s at times impossible to pick out what’s being said, the general look and feel of the cabin speaks highly to the idea of just having used public property without permission and the special effects in total are just cringeworthy. The blood is about the consistency of colored water, trickles out like water and resembles food-coloring while the less said about the decapitation the better. These are what really hold this one back the most.


Overview:
As this has some rather large issues that really hold this one back for the most part, it's still nowhere near the weakest or worst in the style which isn't much, granted, but is has some positive values. Give this a chance if you're the most devout fans of retro, throwback slashers or appreciate these cheap, low-budget indie genre features, while those that don't in the slightest should heed extreme caution.

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