Killer Body Count review.
The director of 2021’s Slumber Party Massacre has a new movie on Tubi. It’s…interesting.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Killer Body Count
Directed by Danishka Esterhazy
Written by Jessica Landry
Starring Alex McGregor, Cassiel Eatock-Winnik, Khosi Ngema, Bjorn Steinbach, Jesse Diepeveen and N’kone Mametja
Killer Body Count Review
We discussed the ups and downs of Tubi Originals in our recent review of Lowlifes. We should have saved that discussion for Killer Body Count. Lowlifes was a clear winner. Killer Body Count presents a much more complicated situation. In a world of Tubi Originals that range from awful (Festival of the Dead) to amazing (Where the Devil Roams) …Killer Body Count is best described as a little bit of the whole spectrum. It oscillates between great ideas and iffy execution so often you begin to wonder if it’s done by design. As if it was saying “We have some killer ideas…and the budget to only hint at them”. When that’s the case…you stuff it into a bad slasher movie.
Killer Body Count is that bad slasher movie. Not in concept…in, pardon the pun, execution. It’s completely lacking in the suspense department. Kill scenes are of the low budget variety…memorable only due to their restrictions. But the actual story of the movie is strong for a modern slasher. A masked killer stalks horny teenagers sent to a religious counseling camp. It’s a terrific elevator pitch, isn’t it? The sex crazed teens fighting back against a masked oppressor obsessed with their sex lives. It’s a winner on paper. It’s a draw in practice.
Let’s begin with what works. Killer Body Count is a very good horror comedy. It’s overflowing with dark humor and funny choices. For starters…the setting of the movie is hilarious. Whether you look at it from the perspective of the foolish parents sending the teens they believe to be sex addicts to a co-ed counseling camp or by watching those teens be so uncontrollably horny that they probably, legitimately, do need some kind of help…Killer Body Count plays it all for laughs. Our lead Cami (Cassiel Eatock-Winnik) is given multiple scenes where she is so incapable of controlling her desires that the movie briefly turns into a 90s era softcore erotic film. Everything turns her on. Which at this camp can prove deadly.
The camp comes with a legend, of course. The story goes that a young priest murdered everyone at the camp twenty years earlier. The (alleged) only survivors were current camp runners Tawny (Alex McGregor) and her brother Eugene (Bjorn Steinbach). It’s a made-up story…that becomes difficult to ignore when Cami witnesses someone in a devil’s mask murder a fellow camper. The killer is targeting teens following sexual escapades. And, of course, the counselors don’t believe her.
The story in Killer Body Count is an entertaining one. It takes expected and unexpected turns in equal measure. Everything leads to a fun finish and caps what would be another title easily dropped into the “good” bucket of Tubi Originals…if it wasn’t for all the things that don’t work.
And so, we return to the “bad slasher” aspect of Killer Body Count. Even acknowledging that comedy and slashers make for difficult bedfellows…this is a movie with zero suspense. None of the kills or chases work whatsoever. The evils of the sex detox camp work surprisingly well. Whenever the killer shows up, however, everything stops working. It’s saved somewhat by a decent whodunnit aspect to the story…and a worthwhile reveal. But the actual meat of the slasher parts is a total dud. You’ve no doubt seen the issues that low budget slashers have with generating tension and paying off kills. Killer Body Count has all those issues rolled into one movie.
It throws off everything that the movie attempts to build. For every laugh at the unfettered thirst that the characters have for each other…a bland, boring kill scene sets the momentum back. You can get whiplash from how quicky Killer Body Count moves from interesting dark comedy to eye rolling slasher. There’s a great movie here that excises the slasher aspect completely and focuses solely on the absurdity of this camp, its purpose, and its hilarious lack of effectiveness. It’s disheartening when the set-up of sex addicts vs. masked killer provides such fertile ground for a modern slasher.
That said…enough works in Killer Body Count to forgive it those faults. The cast is having a blast. The camera finds funny moments throughout. The bones of the script are strong. The difference between cult classic and fun watch may simply be a lack of budget. Director Danishka Esterhazy has delivered more memorable slasher movies that can lay claim cult status in The Banana Splits Movie and Slumber Part Massacre (2021). Killer Body Count misses that mark as a slasher…but has an argument as a dark comedy.
Scare Value
Killer Body Count is an odd duck. For everything that works…something doesn’t. The overall tone is a highlight…but there is a complete lack of suspense surrounding the low budget kill scenes. Performances are strong…but some character choices are needlessly weird. It’s a fun time that gets in its own way every time it begins to pick up. Killer Body Count is a 4-star horror comedy and a 2-star slasher movie. We’ll split the difference.
3/5
Killer Body Count Link
Streaming on Tubi
