Director: Paul Dale, Austin Frosch
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Coming into contact with a family heirloom, a woman’s inheritance of a deadly kite from her family’s dark past is confronted with the unbelievable news that the kite is possessed and capable of murder which is found to be responsible for a string of murders around her and must race to stop it.
Review:
There’s quite a lot to like with this one. Among its more enjoyable features is the generally silly and over-the-top atmosphere generated by the equally goofy premise. The whole concept of the kite coming to life and carrying out a rampage of death and destruction on its own is an idea that’s ludicrously taken on its own accord, but what happens here is given enough credit to become plausible on its own. The idea of the kite taking its legacy from the Cold War, and featuring a history even further than that which comes about through a series of revelations into the mystery about its history, goes a long way to keeping the film silly and goofy enough idea going. Given plenty of equally silly jokes and sketches that keep everything light and goofy which is a fun way to go with this one.
That setup carries over into the type of action featured throughout here, which is a part of helping to buy into the premise. The use of the POV camera to show the kite sneaking up on the hapless victims who are blissfully unaware of the impending doom awaiting them is a generally fun time which is only enhanced by the generally silly attitude that permeates the sequences. With attack scenes requiring victims to pretend that an ambulatory kite maneuvering around is a deadly object for big attack scenes including the bread festival or the final encounter in the woods where they put their research to the ultimate test against the swarm of killer kites under its thrall, they’re not only energetic and lively but also keep the same goofy energy that’s present throughout here. All told, these provide the film with a lot to like.
This one does have some issues that hold it back. The main drawback comes from the aforementioned atmosphere present in the film where it’s almost insultingly stupid simply to move the plot along. Characters here have to interact with others in scenarios that are so wholly ridiculous and implausible in the real world that it borders on insufferable where having to take the concept of a killer kite going around killing people seriously is only part of the problem. Given the lack of urgency or seriousness with which anyone takes this setup who is more concerned with meaningless character quirks or outside motivations that end up making everyone here moronically stupid is part of the point for this one which you know really early and easily demonstrates what kind of film this is. That factor, and its criminally low budget, could be enough for some that might make for a nearly insufferable time here.
Overview: ***/5
An overly goofy genre comedy that won’t be for everyone, your mileage of the film will vary on your tolerance for characters and situations that are aggressively stupid which leaves this a hard one to recommend. Viewers who can tolerate that can of material or just appreciate the creative crew’s previous efforts will have a lot to like here while those who don’t believe they can do that or are just turned off by the concept won’t have as much to like here.
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