The perfect punctuation to any properly planned pandemic party is playing the wacky world contamination feature Staycation, written, photographed, and edited by Emile Haris and directed by Russ Emanuel. There is a new virus spreading all over the planet called the Nex virus. Professor Edward Bellows (Sean Kenney) tries to calm the public on TV, but is he holding back even worse news? Meanwhile, Cathy (Bailey Sorrel) talks online with her boyfriend Matt (Gilles Stricher), who is on lockdown in Europe. While chugging some overpriced brandy Matt sent, Cathy tells him that she is infected. Then, right before Matt’s eyes, the Nex virus transforms Cathy into a withered zombie.
Meanwhile, roommates Britt (Catherine LaSalle) and Marine (Lilly Ivring) deal with cabin fever by watching lots of TV and online videos. This includes a pile of scary clowns like Madelyn (Michelle Wells), Scoops (Dustin Pedersen), and Mischief (Kelsey Livengood) selling their virus-fighting vitamins. Also, we have the wit and wisdom of Suying Li (Crystal J. Huang) and the straight-from-the-underground reporting of Nathan Grimes (Ed Mower). But no matter how many videos are flipped through, people keep dying, and the infected start acting more and more like zombies.
“…people keep dying, and the infected start acting more and more like zombies.”
Yes, the pandemic party movie is a thing that is as catchy as measles. What better way to blot out the beginning of the decade than to get obliterated at a themed death party? Masks and gloves hang everywhere like ribbons and streamers, there’s an unlocked ‘lock-down’ liquor cabinet, and a special closed-off ‘Florida’ room where anything goes. It may be too soon for a lot of us who lost close family members to the plague, but for those who got off with a wrist slap, the appeal of partying until the world obeys is clear. We already have a cult classic of the sub-genre, Fresh Hell, as well as the incredibly entertaining dark sci-fi party flick District 666.
Staycation parties just as hard as these pictures, stomping on as many toes as it can until you are so inebriated you cannot feel your feet. Essentially, Staycation is Contagion meets Kentucky Fried Movie, as much of the film is a series of skits from TV shows and internet events. Haris sets his aim at everybody’s behavior during the plague, with nobody getting spared. The endless rules and masking requirements are savaged, but so are the deniers and the hawkers of bogus remedies, as people really do die from this in the movie’s world. This is both offensive and refreshing at the same time, like a York Peppermint Patty eaten off the floor of a peepshow.
"…has a sinister sense of timing and impact that stands out like volcanic eruptions."
