It’s Halloween night and a lonely meter maid comes home to his apartment to find he’s received a strange invitation to a party that evening. It’s strange because it’s obvious this guy has no friends – not even his cat pays him much mind. But there’s an address on the invitation, so instead of sitting around eating awful candy corn and watching shitty movies, our meter maid fashions a knight’s suit of armor out of cardboard and heads to the party. When he arrives to the warehouse location he’s met by a small group of costumed art students who quickly subdue him and tie him to a chair. The idea is to kill him as a part of an art project in order to procure art grant money. Happy Halloween!
“Murder Party” wastes little time getting the ball rolling. Not long before we’re introduced to our meter maid in cardboard armor he’s being captured by art school freaks – one of which is dressed like Pris from “Blade Runner” and another is dressed as a Baseball Furies gang member from “The Warriors.” But then the film slows down and we get to know all of these characters as they take drugs and try to figure out just what they’re going to do with their prisoner. This could’ve easily been a drag, but the characters are well-written and acted and you can’t help but get pulled into this slumber party for dangerous weirdos. The entire cast is amusing to watch, but the star of the film is Chris Sharp as the meter maid who comes off like someone’s tragically goofy dad who has so little going for him in life that it seems he doesn’t mind all that much that he’s been placed in this life-threatening situation. It’s something to do…and it is Halloween themed. By the end of the movie you love this guy!
So, yeah, the bulk of “Murder Party” is rather chatty, highly amusing, but chatty – it’s kinda like “The Breakfast Club” for psychopaths. But then the murder in “Murder Party” finally kicks in and it’s glorious. For everything this movie spends time setting up, it pays off in the end – big time! The end credits rolled and I felt completely satisfied. It’s funny, it’s gory and it’s the perfect type of movie for the Season of the Witch.
