Happy Times

Director - Michael Mayer (Fireworks, Out of the Dark)

Starring - Shani Atias (Shameless, Devil's Night), Stefi Celma (Lost Bullet, The Squad), and Michael Aloni (Temporarily Dead, Out of Sight)

Release Date - 2019

Genre - Horror

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I decided to be more aggressive with my reviews when I went into this new year.  Not aggressive as in picking apart movies and being disrespectful.  Instead, I wanted to stop wasting time and actually be more productive with it to ensure I review movies in a timely manner.  A few days ago I received the Israeli American horror comedy Happy Times from Artsploitation Films to review.  This one looks extremely fun and instead of sitting on it for weeks on end I decided to make time for it as soon as possible.  I'm glad I did because it was a lot of fun.  

     The film follows a family get together that starts out innocently enough but soon egos, infidelity,  greed, and cultural differences comes to a boil resulting in bloodshed.

     I went into this one thinking it was something like The Perfect Host meets Funny Games but I was wrong.  Instead, it was something a little different.  A good different that I was not expecting but very different.  The acting in this one is very consistent and even.  The cast works together very well and they do phenomenal jobs in their performances.  Some of the scenes were pretty intense and the cast did a fantastic job in those scenes.  However, some of the characters look and act very similar.  It's as if the writer of this one only had one person in mind when they were writing the characters.  The story for this one has a lot of layers but is fairly straight forward.  More or less, we are given a dysfunctional family and friends on the verge of collapsing.  We then watch the accidental and intentional deaths of them all unfold.  Sure, there is some family drama, secrets revealed, and so on revealed throughout but the story is pretty straight forward.  With that being said, the film does get rather repetitive and by the 40 or 50 minute mark you are ready for the film to wrap it up.  Finally, this is a bloody one.  We have plenty of practical and make-up effects that look fantastic.  The kills are extremely violent and fit the film so well but they are fairly forgettable.  They are still fun to watch but they don't stick with you like other horror films.  Overall, Happy Times is a bloody and entertaining horror comedy.  It does stretch a little thin at times but still well worth the watch.  Check it out!