Posted by Bishop on Oct 26, 2007

Murder Party: Review

Categories: Movies, Toronto After Dark Film Festival | 1 comment

Here’s a tip. If you find an invitation to something called a “Murder Party“, do not go. Unfortunately for our protagonist (but fortunately for us), lonely Parking Attendant Chris did not heed out warning. We are introduced to him as he shuffles through his life and we are left with the impression that EVERYTHING in his life is routine. Even his requests for his cat, Sir Lancelot, to get down off of the only seat in his tiny apartment (which Sir Lancelot will have none of). It is after such an exchange the Chris makes the decision to go this party and to break out of his routine. He assembles his very own Cardboard Knight costume, which is awesome, and something we will get in to later, and makes a nice pumpkin loaf to give to his unknown hosts. That is just the sort of fellow he is. Sensitive, thoughtful, and really quite shy.

When Chris finally makes it to the address, the mayhem begins.

Lead Actor and Executive Producer Chris Sharp was in house to introduce the film and we are thankful he was. Sharp as an unassuming and approachable guy, who, along with everyone else involved in this project, may have created the next greatest cult hit of all time. Before the film, Sharp mentioned that the movie was much like “The Breakfast Club“, which elicited chuckles from the audience. I thought it was an amusing quip, but that it really didn’t have much to do with the movie.

Turns out I was wrong.

There was an air about this movie that had so many references to so many other movies, yet it maintained its own distinct flavour throughout. The characters in the film were so close to being stereotypes, but just far enough that they were real people to the audience. When a character bought the farm, we felt it. The dialogue in this film is well-written, but even more importantly, well-delivered. The comedy was about the characters and, as B.W.E. mentioned to me, was what made it funny. We laughed at every joke because it felt genuine. We cringed at every gory details because it was happening to people that we hadÂ come to know.Â

Let me speak about the main character of Chris. Chris is the hero of the story, but he isn’t an action hero, he is a regular guy and this really comes across. When the time comes for Chris to redeem himself, he doesn’t go on some revenge spree and suddenly sprout muscles, he just wants to live and does whatever he can do to survive the ordeal.

There was such buzz around this film that, again, I was afraid that it would just be more overhype. Thankfully I was proven wrong. This is going to go down as one of my favourite films of all time. The dialog was sharp, the pacing was just right, and the reception from a VERY particular crowd was phenomenal. We didn’t get to spend much time at the after party, but we did manage to talk to Sharp breifly and he seemed like a genuinely decent guy who really loves the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and I hope he goes back and tells of good things of his experience in Toronto.

As far as the Brown Knight costume that I mentioned previously, we will post some video soon for you to find out more.

It is pretty difficult find a flaw in this great flick. The only thing that I can mention, was that it was pretty unclear as to what, specifically the pills Chris took were for, although it didn’t really matter all THAT much.