Movie Review: ‘Blood Fest’

Review by James Lindorf

Written and directed by Owen Egerton (Follow), this self-aware horror comedy tells the story of Dax (Robbie Kay, Once Upon a Time) and his two best friends, snarky badass Sam (Seychelle Gabriel, The Last Airbender) and comedy relief virgin Krill (Jacob Batalon, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and their trip to the king of all horror conventions, Blood Fest. As fans flock to the festival to celebrate iconic horror movies, they discover that the conventions charismatic front man has a much different experience in mind. As attendees start dying off, our three twenty-somethings masquerading as teenagers must use their horror-film wits to band together and battle through every madman, monstrosity, and terrifying scenario if they want to survive the night. Blood Fest will be available in theaters and On Demand August 31st, 2018.

There are a lot of good things happening in this film, good performances, cinematography, some smart writing and special effects that left me surprised that the budget was only an estimated $1.2 million. Blood Fest is a love letter to the horror genre and owes a lot to films like Scream and Cabin in the Woods both of which it has many things in common. Unlike larger budget films, you won’t hear any licensed character name drops. Instead of a Jason Vorhees, they gave us an evil groundskeeper, Willie in The Arborist. Which, while cheesy, it was fun to guess the references.

The biggest issue with the film was its writing. While it was above average, it suffered from a lack of a second pair of eyes. It would have helped if there was someone to make sure Egerton didn’t steer into any clichés while lampooning others and helping disguise some of the surprise elements that were a little obvious. You could also tell which sub-genres are Egerton’s favorites. Slashers and zombies are given the bulk of the time, while ghosts and torture films like Saw were barely referenced.

Even with the script needing a polish, the rest of the elements paired with a fully committed cast led by Robbie Kay kept the energy and the entertainment at a reasonably high level. The film is at its best when the action is happening, and they aren’t explaining how every element of the park was designed. I think this film compares favorably with The Cabin in the Woods. Blood Fest’s behind the scenes moments aren’t as well done, but the action scenes with the victims are more entertaining than that film. You may be left wanting a little more complexity and slightly better pacing in the final act, but there is plenty of fun to be had with Blood Fest.