Founders Day

Plot A small town is shaken by a series of ominous killings in the days leading up to a heated mayoral election. Cast Naomi Grace leads competently, Devin "13 Reasons Why" Druid unintentionally comes across as creepy as he was in that and William Russ outshines everyone. Verdict Though I'm a horror fanatic slasher isn't exactly my favorite sub-genre, and the reason? They're all too similar, I grew up with 70's-80's slashers and they gradually died out because of that reason. Founders Day tries to reel in some of that nostalgic magic, but in doing so falls into the same trap! It's so generic, so uninspired, we've seen this before a thousand times (Probably not an exaggeration). It doesn't color outside the lines for a moment, it doesn't dare wander off the path and delivers something that will only be appreciated by people who have never really experienced many slashers and therefore won't predict the whole thing straight out of the gate. And don't even get me started on that ending, I absolutely didn't "Get" that in the slightest. I need an explanation, what were they thinking? Rants I don't like Erik Bloomquist, it's not a personal thing, it's not a talent thing, I don't in fact know what it is. He's just one of those people who when they come on to the screen I wince ever so slightly, feel a level of discomfort and if I had any children would cover their eyes. Therefore a movie written, directed and starring him never really stood a change. The Good William Russ is great The Bad Bland kills Offensively unoriginal Dreadful finale.

I see all the reviews about some people loving it and others hating it. Those who like it seem to think that the movie was written, directed, and acted in such a way to be one of those "dumb" slasher movies which would make it a great film. I actually disagree and it didn't seem to me that the film was intentional made to be "dumb", it just happened to turn out that way. Reasons being are the plot holes, terrible sound mixing, acting being all over the place, the story ending, among several other things. And if it was all intentional, it was very poorly done which then still makes it a dumb movie. I'm a bit surprised it was even shown at Regal, to be honest. I give it two thumbs down and recommend you saving your money and/or time.

The film was entertaining overall. Totally sufficient for a light, fun night out. It will give you and your friends plenty to discuss afterwards. The plot was unfocused, but not difficult to follow. The twist at the end was somehow both surprising and predictable at the same time. For the most part, the characters were bland and the audience did not get to know them well. That might be due, at least in part, to the mediocre acting. Upon further reflection, I think that the movie was supposed to be a comedy moreso than a horror movie. I wasn't scared or shocked at any point during the film, but I did find the cheesiness to be funny. The best part was by far the cinematography - excellent lighting and camera work.

I mean, it was laughable I'll give it that. Acting was bad, like it looked so bad I think it was on purpose. Like Harold character. It had PG13 gore which I don't like, I prefer it when they go all the way and make it gruesome. In between stabbings it was so melodramatic, just sad sappy stories of people we don't get to know. I didn't care for any of the characters. This was a $1 Monday mystery movie so it didn't bother me as much. It was three fully crowded theaters which is rare, usually they only have one viewing of MMM. From the first couple minutes I knew it was going to be crappy so that helped me tolerate it more. Second time seeing Erik Bloomquist in a movie and both are pretty bad. First was "Weekenders." So many things just didn't make sense. Felt like the mystery was solved halfway through so I was wondering what's next. Didn't really care who the killer was. There was so many dumb scenes: -the girl and her dad Left her friend sleeping when the house was potentially being broken into -A police search and this kid hid behind a tree surrounded by cops😂and then showed up at the police station while still on the run -The car chase, the cop car drove off in the wrong direction to the car it was chasing -These guys were measuring dicks by using their dead kids -Also the mayor could've just dropped the pen, How on earth did she get stabbed??? There was much more but those are the few I remember now. This was so stupid. So much dumb stuff it was funny, the person I sat next to made this much better because we were just pointing out how stupid the movie was. Even if you left your brain outside the theater you'd still think it's dumb. This was so bad it looked deliberate, everybody on set must have known what they were making.

Founders day subverts all expectations. This satirical political slasher takes a bold step into uncharted territory, playfully mocking its genre counterparts with a sharp, self-aware edge. With a fearless blend of humor and intentional cringe, the film navigates a maze of political intrigue, delivering a unique (while at some times predictable) viewing experience. While not everyone may grasp its nuanced satire, those who appreciate a witty deconstruction of the genre will find themselves chuckling at its clever twists and darkly comedic moments, inviting the audience to join in on the fun of dismantling tropes and reveling in the absurdity of its small town political thriller-meets-slasher narrative.

This is one of those movies you put on in the background when you're drinking with your buddies. Its writing is subpar at best, half-chat GPT at worst. The plot is pretty basic with a bland and anti climactic twist. The acting is pretty average as well with no real standouts. I was laughing in disbelief at the bad cinematography, it felt like a joke project at a film class in college. I do not recommend watching this movie seriously and it's barely good enough to be a joke bad movie. I'm glad I only paid $1 to see it (Thanks Regal Mystery Movie Monday!) This is a pretty good movie to play for the aforementioned class in a way to show what NOT to do for a slasher movie.

This was surprising good, even for a smaller and underwelling movie. The acting wasn't the best, as many movies are nowadays, nor was the story really good. The movie was amazing nonetheless, the story was funny and had some pretty good twists and turns. The funny thing about this was that the story felt a lot like a combination of Scream and Halloween, but it (somewhat) worked. The use of politics and how messed up some of the runners, was somewhat (SOMEWHAT) good. The music was the really good part of the movie, the music was better then most film (again) nowadays. The worst part of this movie were the kills. The acting was bad, but funny when they happened. I mean, you could definitely tell it was made as a horror-comedy, and yet, it still delivered. It wasn't the best, but worked anyways. 9/10 and get ready for Founder's Day!

As someone who loves both politics and horror, this film should have been a slam dunk for me. However, the over the top acting, confusing plot, and the not so subtle message about politics that everyone who pays any ounce of attention to current events is already aware of made it a dud for me. The movie definitely drew inspiration from Scream, even going as far as casting a Dewey lookalike for their cop character. And while slashers are at their best when they don't take themselves too seriously, there still should be some tension. This movie was all about leaning into the funny, to the detriment of maintaining any sense of doom. Every scene leading up to a kill was so overloaded with dramatic looks or dialogue that you couldn't help but laugh. Oh and if you're expecting jump scares - forget about it. Even that could have been perhaps forgiven if the plot would have made more sense. But honestly, I'm still not sure what all happened. There was too much going on. To be honest, I think this film could have left off the graphic kills, as they were poorly executed and instead leaned into a pg-13 rating, tightened up the script to make it make a little more sense and add more tension, and played around more with the highschool caricature characters, and it would have been tremendously better. A silly slasher geared towards teens might have been better. But alas, I'm not sure the political message would have hit as hard with that audience. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!! I'm still trying to figure out the timeline of events and motives of all of the different killers involved in the movie. Melissa wanted to kill Allison because of her dad? Why was Deputy Miller involved? Did he want to kill the commissioner? Why did he kill Britt and Tyler then? Or did Adam kill them? And why go through all this trouble to get rid of the mayoral candidates when Mr. Jackson seemed so well loved that all he would have had to do was run for mayor himself and he probably would have gotten elected. I also do so hate when a movie hits me over the head with a message. I get it, I get it. Both sides suck. This movie, in the end, just tried to do way too much. Oh Scream did three killers? We will DOUBLE THAT. Oh people like the Purge? Let's sprinkle that in here too. It seems like they did things just for the sake of doing them. Ultimately, not a well done film, in my opinion.