Bride of the Killer Pinata Review

Bride of the Killer Pinata review.

The Killer Pinata is back! Bigger, funnier and better than the original in every way. Bride of the Killer Pinata understands both the joke and the best way to tell it.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

Bride of the Killer Pinata

Directed by Stephen Tramontana

Written by Megan Macmanus and Stephen Tramontana

Starring Eliza-Jane Morris, Natalie Younger, Eric Bays, Edward Neequaye, Megan Renner Rieck, Johnny Kalita and Joette Waters

Bride of the Killer Pinata Review

You don’t have to have seen 2017’s Killer Pinata to enjoy its sequel…but it is streaming on Tubi and Screambox if you’d like to.  Watching it does deepen some of the jokes, including turning the opening recap into something hilarious.  I had seen the original prior to my time with Bride of the Killer Pinata so I was up to speed already when the recap of the titular pinata’s previous adventure began.  Then it continued.  It continued into adventures I hadn’t seen…introducing characters that I had never met.  I paused the movie to make sure I hadn’t missed another movie or two in the Killer Pinata saga.  I hadn’t.  The recap provided lore extending well beyond the original.  And it was hilarious.

We have a podcast to accompany this review with viewers who had not seen the original film.  For them…the recap read as just that.  It wouldn’t be the last time that I got a laugh out of Bride of the Killer Pinata due to familiarity with the first movie…but it proved that you could enjoy this sequel without it.  The absurdity of the movie plays well either way. 

There is a big leap forward for this sequel that’s worth noting, however.  Although made on a very small budget for a feature length film…the story is much bigger.  That usually spells disaster for a low-budget film.  If I had a nickel for every movie that either overreached on what they could produce or underwrote their script based on budget concerns…well…I might not have enough to fully fund a sequel to Bride of the Killer Pinata…but I’d be off to a good start.  Which is what makes Bride such an interesting case in how to make a movie work.  Know what you can get on screen…and write the hell out of that screenplay.

Bride of the Killer Pinata boasts a fantastic script.  It accomplishes a few things that many movies struggle with.  First, it gets everything you need to know on the page immediately.  A similar deal for nickels for every movie that couldn’t explain their premise quickly enough to engage you would finish funding that sequel with ease.  Despite having to introduce us to its absurd world and a purposely hilarious number of characters…Bride’s screenplay earns your attention and has you bought in by the time the Killer Pinata has finished his first massacre.

Second, and this is the most impressive, Bride of the Killer Pinata’s screenplay nails and sustains its absurd tone.  This is much harder than the first one.  Especially the way that Bride does it.  Everything that should be treated as absurd in the world of this film is written and delivered with deadpan seriousness.  Everything that would normally be a serious line (in the context of living pinata’s extracting vengeance on the human world) is dismissed with a casual joke.  It’s a style that never wears out its welcome…and gives Bride a unique feel that money can’t buy.

Aside from being very funny, Bride of the Killer Pinata also examines a concept that I can’t recall seeing in a movie before.  Our lead characters Lindsey (Eliza-Jane Morris, returning survivor of the first Killer Pinata rampage) and her wife Nat (Natalie Younger, introduced in the added backstory) have become bored with domestic life.  They crave the madness of being locked in eternal battle with the Killer Pinata.  It’s such a good idea that I can’t believe a sequel hasn’t tackled it before.  The closest I can think of is Gale Weathers losing direction in the Scream franchise whenever Ghostface isn’t about.  But even she isn’t openly opining the loss of life-threatening terror around every corner.

Bride of the Killer Pinata opens with the Killer Pinata from the first film defeated and dormant…kept as a trophy in the couple’s basement.  When a Loving Pinata finds her way into the Killer Pinata’s life…he is reawakened and fixated on resuming his vengeance.  Loving Pinata (LP) isn’t on the same page…until she remembers how she came to be a pinata in the first place.  Then it’s time for revenge.  That’s a broad strokes version of the plot.  There’s no great way to recap the wild and varied ideas that the movie throws at you.  Just when you think you’ve got a bead on where it’s heading…a mustachioed cowboy gunslinger arrives.  Or a serial killer reveals themselves.  Or people arrive to capture the pinata.  It all ties together shockingly well…while also upping the absurdity at every turn.

The puppetry of the pinatas has improved greatly over the original (though I’ll be honest in saying I have a soft spot for the shake a pinata back and forth nature of Killer Pinata).  KP and LP have defined three-dimensional personalities complete with Critters like speech and subtitles.  The movie is chalk full of over-the-top kills and is never short of a laugh.  The movie keeps adding layers to the world that fall perfectly in step with the bigger is better nature of sequels.  The more ridiculous Bride of the Killer Pinata can push it…the better.

Which brings us back to the script.  Escalating the number of characters and size of the story usually doesn’t play out well for a low budget movie.  That everything here feels so natural in its purposely unnatural way is an impressive thing.  We cover more about the characters and humor in the Bride of the Killer Pinata episode of the podcast…so we’ll leave it with this final thought:

I’ve watched any number of low budget horror movies in my time.  If you aren’t familiar with the corners that must be cut and sacrifices that must be made to complete a production…Bride of the Killer Pinata is a great place to start watching.  Director and co-writer Stephen Tramontana refuses to let a 17,000-dollar budget curb the size of his aspirations.  He, his cast, and crew deliver an entertaining sequel that leaves you excited for what’s next.  More importantly, it leaves you shaking your head recalling something that made you laugh and tipping your cap at the ability and passion it required to pull it all off.

Scare Value

Bride of the Killer Pinata may follow in the footsteps of the original…but it does so with more style and a ton of laughs. A genuinely enjoyable movie that takes the ridiculous seriously and treats the serious as ridiculous. It’s combines for a fun ride. It comes close to overstaying its welcome with last act twists and turns…but there’s always a funny enough idea coming to justify it.

3.5/5

Bride of the Killer Pinata Trailer

If you enjoyed this review of Bride of the Killer Pinata, check out Moon Garden and Death’s Roulette