Amazing Fantasy Fest Coverage
Massacre at Femur Creek review.
Canadian slasher comedy Massacre at Femur Creek mixes its jokes with a surprising commitment to characte.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Massacre at Femur Creek
Directed by Kyle Hytonen
Written by Kyle Hytonen
Starring Eric De Santis, Adam Lemieux, August Kyss, Ry Barrett, John Migliore, Conall Pendergast, Brent Baird and Cassidy Lawson
Massacre at Femur Creek Review
Night three of Amazing Fantasy Fest saw the US Premiere of Massacre at Femur Creek. The crowd-pleasing slasher comedy followed a showing of the animated short film Noonday Demon. Writer/director Kyle Hytonen, producer (and director of Voices Carry) Derek Lukosius were in the theater along with lead actors Adam Lemieux and Eric De Santis. A spirited Q&A with the group took place following the premiere.
Massacre at Femur Creek is one of two slasher comedies that screened at the festival. Both it, and Slasher Days of Summer try their hand at the tricky subgenre. Whereas Slasher Days keeps its humor loose and broad…Massacre (mostly) grounds its laughs in a more character driven piece. I say mostly because the opening scene of the film sets a tone that lets you know there will be plenty of silliness to laugh at. A hitchhiker is beheaded and what is clearly a mannequin head rolls away and floats down the river. It gets funnier every time you see it.
This wasn’t an accident. It was a clever way to tell the audience that, yeah…this is a low-budget movie. There are going to be some moments that don’t look perfect. It’s a clever way of turning into a slide. A cheap mannequin head floating down the river with no attempt to hide the lack of special effect sets an exceptionally low bar. Massacre at Femur Creek spends the rest of the movie clearing that bar. The lowering of expectations completes the desired effect of taking the fact that kills are going to be…what they are…and putting it out of your mind.
The truth is, Massacre at Femur Creek has a lot of non-mannequin head gag related things going for it. The acting is universally strong. It has a good, simple killer design. There is a surprising depth of character work. Most importantly, it’s funny. Funny in ways beyond a head floating by the screen.
Teddy (Eric De Santis) takes his best friend Patrick (Adam Lemieux) into the woods for his bachelor party. What’s supposed to be a fun night drinking with the boys takes a bloody turn when an escaped mental patient (John Migliore) starts slashing his way through the woods. The group (and a newly pregnant stripper) must survive the night and make it to the church on time.
The relationship between Patrick and Teddy is what elevates Massacre at Femur Creek above many of its peers. Patrick is reluctant to go with Teddy. He’s grown up and Teddy hasn’t. While spending time with old friend’s sounds fun on paper…Patrick has more important things going on in his life. Lemieux and De Santis have good chemistry. Their friends each bring some fun oddities to the proceedings…but the relatable friendship between the two leads is what makes the story work. It may boil down to old friends who have grown apart finding a way to reconnect in the face of impending doom…but it works here.
The B-plot of Massacre at Femur Creek involves Trinity (Cassidy Lawson), the aforementioned stripper. She learns of her pregnancy before being sent out to the bachelor party. She’s driven out to the woods by friend and veteran stripper Mariah (Karen Burson). Trinity is given a surprising amount of depth. Burson’s Mariah steals every scene she’s in. With four likable characters and some friendly fodder to feed to the masked killer…Massacre at Femur Creek sets itself up for success.
Not everything works, of course. It’s still prone to some of the pitfalls of all low-budget slasher movies. Even with its clever opening gambit telling you it is ok to laugh at the effects…kills are doomed to underwhelm. Budget limitations always do a number on these kinds of movies. It’s why Massacre at Femur Creek focuses its attention elsewhere. It builds a full story around the absurdity and finds talented actors to carry it. That’s more than most of these types of movies can claim. Yes, it has moments where you will roll your eyes. That’s what makes it’s opening kill such a brilliant stroke. Writer/director Kyle Hytonen is telling us that it’s ok to laugh at those moments. We’re all here to have a good time. Massacre at Femur Creek provides one.
Scare Value
Massacre at Femur Creek finds plenty of comedy in its slasher story. What’s more impressive is how much attention it pays to its characters. There’s an unexpected heart in the middle of what could have been another easily dismissed low budget slasher-comedy. The cast does a fine job landing the jokes while tethering their relationships to reality. A return to Femur Creek would do me just fine.
