Blood Fest

 



Director - Owen Egerton (Follow, Mercy Black)
Starring - Robbie Kay (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Sleepy Hollow), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War), and Seychelle Gabriel (The Last Airbender, Falling Skies)
Release Date - 2018
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Love horror movies? Try surviving one"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     Well, this week didn't end like I thought it would.  Thursday night my family and I went to bed only to awake to our home on fire.  It was contained to just one room but the fire department was a little too excited with their hose and damaged most of our house with their high pressure water hose including rooms on the opposite end of the home where the fire was not.  Sadly, this included some of my movie collection.  While going through some of my films in the dark I came across a small box of movies that I had received for review and misplaced shortly after.  One of those films is the Roost Teeth horror film Blood Fest.  As I reflected on how bad this could have ended up I decided to toss this one in and check it out.  Glad I did because it was just the kind of film I needed. 

     The film follows a group of friends going to a horror and haunted house festival known as Blood Fest.  One of them, Dax (Kay), is banned from going by his overprotective father after his mother was murdered by a horror loving psychopath.  A friend of his is able to sneak him in but he doesn't know that this year Blood Fest is different.  The man behind it all, Anthony Walsh, has decided to turn his fest into a horror movie with the party goers serving as the victims.  Now they must fight their way through 700 acres of madmen, slashers, the undead, and vampires before learning who is really responsible for the carnage.

     I was a little apprehensive at first after watching Hell Fest but Blood Fest was one fun horror comedy.  In fact, I could see myself revisiting this one in a week or so because it was just so damn fun.  Sure, there was things I didn't like about it but the good far outweighed the bad.  The acting in this one is great.  The characters stand out and the cast does a fantastic job bringing them to life.  The cast is 100 percent dedicated to their role and we get some amazing performances out of it.  The story for this one is a mash up of what I just saw in Hell Fest and one of my favorite modern horror films, Cabin in the Woods.  I really enjoyed that aspect.  It brought something to the table for everyone regardless of what horror sub-genre they enjoy.  It does get a little goofy at times but the end result is very entertaining.  I could see this story making a perfect companion piece to the horror comedy Freaks of Nature.  Finally, the film has several amazing on screen kills.  Some make great use of practical effects while others rely heavily on very noticeable computer generated effects.  The practical alone looks fantastic but the CGI sticks out like a sore thumb.  Overall, Blood Fest was a surprisingly fun and gory horror film meant for horror fans.  It does have that cheese factor that some don't enjoy but I highly recommend this one.