Director: MJ Dixon
Year: 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Starting work at a new office, a woman finds herself forced to stay late due to her job while her boss throws a party with his friends and a bunch of strippers, but when a strange masked killer begins killing them one-by-one they have to find a way to get the survivors together and get out of the building alive.
Review:
Overall, this one was a decent enough genre effort. Among the more enjoyable efforts here is the genuinely hilarious and over-the-top setup done for the work environment. There’s a nice bit of fun here with the care-free, laid-back manner of how they go about treating the job, ranging from piling work on the underlings whether it’s their duty or not, spending time organizing new ways of tormenting the others and focused on partying on the job. It gives off a great sitcom-style take on the office atmosphere with the exaggerated manner and unrealistic behavior that seems wholly appropriate to be the place to give a stripper-party after-hours which is the case here with the equally -goofy strippers that show up as each one also has their own exaggerated mindset and behavior.
Once this comes into play, the film’s slasher elements offer up some great aspects. Starting with the attack on the couple in their home, there are solid stalking scenes of the bizarrely-dressed killer going around the various parts of the building in the security room, ambushing the voyeur in the control office and the various outside stragglers of the party which no one really believes. Taking advantage nicely of the creepiness of the abandoned floors by having confrontations take place in dark corridors or flickering lighting as well as the bacchanalia-laden behavior where a victim doesn’t believe their drug-fueled state that the killer is real, these scenes have some great suspenseful atmosphere which leads along with the decent kills into the final half where the remaining workers have to face off with the killer in several solid encounters and reveals. Along with the bizarre concept of the killers’ attire as well as the comical wisecracks he offers, these are what hold this one up overall.
This one does have a few minor aspects against it. The main problem here is the complete lack of urgency towards the killer everyone has, even if this is a comedy. That everyone here, regardless of how far gone they are in their drug-induced high, would fail to take what’s going on seriously with the discovery of the bodies around them is highly suspect. One confrontation, where the killer circumcises a victim who then wanders around with the severed unit in a state of whimsical delirium as if the act was so incredulous he can’t believe he experienced it rather than shock at what’s going on that is far more likely and reasonable, borders on the ludicrous. As well, there’s also the underwhelming finale where there's no real confrontation between the killer and the final girl which had taken place moments earlier so it ruins the final encounter considerably which is barely that much of a confrontation due to that earlier battle. Combined with the personal distaste for the comedy, these here are the film’s main issues that hold it down.
Overview: ***/5
A somewhat enjoyable effort that does have a bit of flaws about it, that the problematic issues aren’t that troubling and have not as much of an impact on the film as the positives do manages to leave this one quite enjoyable and watchable. This is certainly a worthwhile effort for fans of the studio’s other output, enjoy silly slasher efforts or are curious about it, while those that don’t enjoy or appreciate any of those aspects should heed caution.
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