Monster Party (2018)

Movie: Monster Party (2018), directed by Chris von Hoffmann

Watched on: Shudder

Ran: 7.64 miles, 8’52”/mile, 01:07:45 (recovery run)

 

Here’s a thing about me: I’m a sucker for a heist movie. Or rather, I’m a sucker for an unusual heist movie; considering I’ve never even seen Ocean’s Eleven (either of them), it’d be a stretch to say I was a connoisseur of the genre. But I loved Ocean’s 8, I got a real kick out of Now You See Me, I’m always up for another Inception screening despite its logical flaws, A Fish Called Wanda will always occupy a special place in my heart, and I got super excited when the second half of Happy Death Day 2U pretty much turned into a sci-fi heist. So the premise of Monster Party was more than enough to hook me.

 

To wit: Casper, Iris, and Dodge (already, those names; you son of a bitch, I’m in) are three young ne’er-do-wells who pretty competently pull off small-potatoes B&Es, thanks in part to Casper’s facility with electronic alarm systems and Iris’s ability to improvise. The only problem is, Casper’s dad has a gambling problem, which has turned into a massive debt problem, which has turned into a finger-cut-off-and-dead-by-Sunday problem—so Casper needs ten large in a hurry and raiding a few more middle-class houses ain’t gonna cut it.

 

Iris, though, has an in: she’s serving at a catered party this weekend, at a real upscale house she’s worked before. She gets Casper and Dodge in the door as two more servers in hopes that Casper will find a safe he can crack. He does, but there’s just one problem: this joint is wired to the hilt with the utmost in electronic security, and when the plan goes awry due to the… proclivities of the host’s son, the house seals itself up and our team is trapped inside. That would be bad enough in the best circumstances, but this party they’re trying to heist? Turns out it’s a meeting of recovering serial killers. Being locked in with fresh meat has the twelve-steppers all falling off the wagon, and hilarity ensues. Oh, wait, did I say hilarity? I meant disembowelment. Disembowelment ensues.

 

Once the movie moves from its heist phase into all-out gore territory, things go way over the top—there are samurai swords and neon green chainsaws and a deformed slay-crazy brother hidden away in the basement, all playing out against the backdrop of a failed murder-addict rehab program. While part of me wonders how Monster Party might have turned out had it taken itself more seriously, I can’t fault the decision to go all-out camp; at times the movie feels like the slightly button-down bastard offspring of House of 1,000 Corpses and Crank, which, coming from me, isn’t a criticism. The pace is suitably manic and the soundtrack is killer.

 

I would say the cast handles themselves fine, although some of the killer guests might be too nuts even for this flick. Virginia Gardner as Iris is the standout, and I didn’t even recognize Robin Tunney as murder-mom Roxanne (I have problems with faces—it’s a brain thing), but she did a great job portraying a woman trying to hold onto her “sobriety” while her family slips back into their old killing ways. Most of the gore is done well and the kills are suitably crazed. Also note that Monster Party doesn’t do the typical horror film thing of opening with some red meat for the gorehounds before settling into the exposition, so if you watch this with someone who doesn’t know much about it, they’ll be pretty dang surprised by the sharp left turn from Heistville into Slasher Heights.

 

The downsides are few: uneven tone (some scenes feel “obligatory horror”-y or even imported from other movies), a slightly wooden protagonist, and a somewhat disappointing ending. It’s one of those movies you think will go one of two ways, either of which would be a predictable letdown; instead it goes a third by attempting to channel Tarantino, and, regrettably, not all that well. But horror movies aren’t exactly known for their strong narrative conclusions, so you may find the denouement less irksome than I did.

 

Overall, I doubt that Monster Party will ever be considered a modern horror classic or anything, but it’s some good disposable fun with a nice premise and competent execution. Just don’t expect much more than that and enjoy the ride.