Founders Day review.
A slasher movie with some surprising moves and a tone that wins you over…even if it never fully meshes together its two big ideas.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Founders Day
Directed by Erik Bloomquist
Written by Erik Bloomquist and Carson Bloomquist
Starring Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ, Amy Hargreaves, Catherin Curtain, Thomas Chambers and Olicia Nikkanen
Founders Day Review
“It has the feel of a movie that never quite knows what it wants to be. But it ends up being a pretty fun time, nonetheless.” This is a line from our review of last year’s She Came from the Woods. It’s relevant here not only because that movie was made by the same creative team as Founders Day…but because it is also a fitting way to describe it. These are entertaining films. They’re also a little looser than you’d like…a bit sloppy here and there. They both struggle at times to figure out how to use their central concepts. But above all…they’re entertaining movies that march to the beat of their own drum. Founders Day knows all the steps of the post-modern slasher. It has some interesting things to say about them.
It’s Mayoral election season in the small town of Fairwood. The age-old battle of consistency vs. change drives the candidates. A masked killer arrives in time to turn the election into an actual bloodbath. While the candidates try to figure out how to use the tragedies to gain political points…the town is left to fend for itself and put a stop to the murders.
Calling Founders Day a political satire or even a political slasher might give the wrong idea. Those elements are here, of course. It’s not often clear what we’re supposed to be taking from them, however. Like She Came from the Woods before it…the Bloomquist brothers have a lot of ideas…great ideas…that don’t always fully gel together. Where Woods was set in the 80s for reasons that never fully made sense…Day sets itself during an election for good reason. It’s just not the only thing going on here. In fact, the motivations of the killer appear to be all over the map.
That isn’t an accident. It’s one of the many ideas that Founders Day brings to the table that should be of interest to slasher movie fans. This is a slasher movie made for people who love slasher movies. It does some things with the story that modern slasher fans have been waiting to see for a while. Without getting too deep into spoilers…one specific turn that happens halfway through the story is something I have personally been waiting for since 1996. That, of course, is when Scream rewrote the rules of slashers by…explaining the rules of slashers. And then breaking them.
There’s a similar vibe in Founders Day. No…it is not a masterpiece that will redefine the genre for decades to come. But it understands the genre better than most. I walked out of the theater assuming that the Bloomquist brothers have been thinking about how to find the next fresh thing since seeing Wes Craven’s meta-masterwork. They find some interesting answers. Not everything works…but you can’t help but applaud their efforts. This is a labor of love from people who want to deliver a fun, fresh take on a beloved genre.
In a strange way…that’s also what hurts Founders Day the most. There isn’t as much interest in providing biting political commentary. Some surface level stuff is entertaining…and the final concept in nothing if not an interesting choice…but the overall package lacks the depth and breadth of brilliance that Kevin Williamson’s script did in 1996. Scream was about many things (the genre, the end of Gen X, changing technology) and it succeeded at meshing them together in a way no slasher movie has before…or since. Founders Day doesn’t quite find the balance between political satire and the evolution of slasher tropes. That’s not to say that each aspect doesn’t have its inspired moments. They do. Together, however, they may add up to less than the sum of its parts.
There are some very funny moments in Founders Day as well. Not enough to deem it an exceptional horror comedy, however. It eventually settles into a nice groove of knowing how to get a laugh out of playing things straight…and by letting things be just silly enough. A fun tone once the movie gets itself into second gear. Things ramp up nicely as the story progresses. Unexpected turns keep you on your toes and make you wonder where all of this is going to end up.
Where it ends up is in the cross section between fresh slasher ideas and political commentary. When the concepts mix well together Founders Day delivers inspired ideas that should intrigue slasher fans. I wonder how this will all play to a more casual audience…how many of the interesting twists on the concept they’ll care about. It won’t have the impact that Scream had on “non-fans” back in its day…but it could have surprising legs with the people that movie turned into fans. The ones who walked out thinking of ways to twist those twists into something fresh. That’s what this movie was clearly born out of. That’s who this movie was made for.
Scare Value
Founders Day keeps the surprises flowing. It’s a slasher fan’s slasher movie. It might not land everything it tries…but there it delivers a good reason for its seemingly chaotic choices. Even the moves it telegraphs come attached to something unexpected. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, does things that turn the formula on its head, and feels like a fresh coat of paint on the genre. That good work covers enough of its other issues to make this an easy recommendation for slasher fans.
3.5/5
Founders Day Link
In theaters January 19th – Regal
Founders Day Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of Founders Day, check out some other new releases: Punch, Destroy All Neighbors, First Time Caller, Reflect and Night Swim
