Killher

In slasher movies, camping trips and bachelorette parties have very high mortality rates. Eddie will combine them both her friend Mattie. That works out about as well as you would expect in Robyn August’s Killher, which releases tomorrow on VOD and in theaters.

Eddie is a lot, but she is determined to throw a wild party for Mattie, filled with many surprises. The first surprise is that they will meet up with her fiancé Jagger, once they reach the campsite. Yet, it strangely turns out they did not pitch their tent next his. Instead, it is the grumpy “Mr. Rogers,” who seems almost too conveniently misanthropic.

He definitely gives bad vibes to Mattie’s other friends, Jess and Rae, who were not so crazy about this plan to begin with. They do not exactly adore Eddie either, especially since she constantly pulls girl-who-cried-wolf-style horror movie practical jokes. Regardless, someone will start stalking the women later that night.

Killher is a pretty simple, straightforward slasher comedy, but it works surprisingly well, thanks to the energy and attitude of M.C. Huff, as the trying-too-hard Eddie, and Tom Kiesche (who also wrote the screenplay), as the anti-social Mr. Rogers. They get most of the funny lines and they have the timing to land them.

The other twentynothing characters are basically there to serve as victims. However, Harrison White is also very amusing as HXB, the karaoke-champion night clerk at the nearest (but not necessarily safest) motel. While Kiesche’s script will not likely “surprise” most horror fans, the way it rewards good horror movie decision making is often pretty clever. (Viewers should also note there is a mid-closing credits stinger.)

Horror audiences have surely seen similar films, but Killher does what it does better than a lot of its predecessors. It will entertain you if you are in the mood for a horror comedy, which is saying something. Recommended for genre fans, Killher opens tomorrow (10/20) at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.