Murder Party (2007)

February 1, 2019 4:09 AM

It's Halloween afternoon. An everyday boring sort of person finds a random invitation to a "murder party" occurring that night. It's in Brooklyn, and he doesn't even have a costume. Surely our hero wouldn't attend? Find out the shocking answer in Murder Party, a low budget comedy horror movie from writer-director Jeremy Saulnier (who would go on to write-direct Blue Ruin and Green Room).

This has a 100% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- from five reviews, four of which have link rot.

"A mix of Waiting for Guffman, After Hours, and Saw." - Cinema crazed dot com

"After an hour of entertainingly crass buildup, pic erupts in a riot of outrageous, quite funny violence that leaves almost no one alive." - Variety

posted by fleacircus (7 comments total)

Available on Netflix in the US, and via Amazon in the US with a "Horror TV" subscription.
posted by Etrigan at 8:12 AM on February 1, 2019

I remember seeing this! Gloriously low budget but very very enthusiastic. The improvisation was hillarious.

Also, Blue Ruin was fantastic if grim.
posted by porpoise at 10:02 AM on February 1, 2019

I checked this one out a while ago based on a recommendation from horror maven Stuart Wellington of the Flop House Podcast, and it's a lot of fun on a teeny-tiny budget. It contains basically all the hallmarks of Saulnier's later work (tightly constrained settings and action, showing characters silently thinking and planning, etc.) as well as the humorous touches of costar/frequent collaborator Macon Blair's own noir comedy I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore. Highly recommended!
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:38 AM on February 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I think I heard someone on MeFi recommend this, it must have been this comment by everybody had matching towels. I think it's probably my favorite film by Saulnier just because it's not taking itself seriously.

And no small amount of points that the reason he goes to the party at all is because the cat sits in his chair.
posted by fleacircus at 1:25 PM on February 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I had a lot of art school flashbacks watching this (wee didn’t kill anyone)
posted by The Whelk at 8:59 PM on February 1, 2019

This is the second movie in a week that I saw here on Fanfare and immediately knew I had to see. I loved (almost) every second of it. The sodium pentothal scene and the rooftop chase both seemed to drag on just slightly too long, but side from them I had a great time watching this.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:41 AM on February 4, 2019

I watched it this weekend because of this post.
It was definitely worth it.
posted by Seamus at 7:00 AM on February 4, 2019