Director – Erik Bloomquist (She Came from the Woods, Ten Minutes to Midnight)
Starring – Naomi Grace (Gridiron Grind, NCIS), Devin Druid (White Elephant, The Man in the Woods), and William Russ (Father by Law, Grimm)
Release Date – 2024
Rating – 2/5
I’ve been a fan of slashers for as long as I could remember. Before I was obsessed with horror I would often rent movies that caught my eye when I would visit the local video store. Sometimes I would rent slashers just because the box art was interesting. While zombies were my first love in the horror genre, it was not my only obsession. I remember renting Jason Goes to Hell and loving it.
A few months later my uncle gave me a copy of it on tape and it would become my favorite tape in my collection for several years. I still love slashers but I prefer slashers from the late 70s through the 80s along with modern slashers that follow those classic slasher tropes. I’ve never been a fan of Scream and the post-Scream slashers that are self-aware. A few weeks back I was sent the slasher Founders Day for review. I have a soft spot for holiday themed slashers so I was very much looking forward to checking this one out.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a small town who is on the heels of their mayoral election when someone starts knocking off teenagers one at a time. As the election is rapidly approaching, the local law enforce is rushing to catch the red masked killer before he uses his gavel to add another tally to his body count. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into Founders Day very excited to check out a modern slasher after spending several weeks watching zombie flicks and several Amityville films. However, I was extremely confused by what this film was trying to achieve. At times it felt like a parody of the self-aware slashers but other times it was extremely serious in tone. I wanted to love it but it at the end of the day it is just another sub-par slasher with an identity crisis.
The acting in this one is inconsistent. Some of the scenes features some pretty solid acting while other scenes feel a bit rushed and uneven. These scenes feel like the cast were not fully committed to their roles or the film was being rushed. Regardless, the inconsistency made most of the film feel very awkward. The story for this one is a bit messy. I don’t mind a politically charged slasher but the atmosphere here is very uneven. As I stated earlier, the film has several instances where it feels like it is a parody of self-aware slashers like Scream but the other scenes completely ignore that and fully embraces the campy mid-90s slashers.
Finally, the film has a lot of great kills that have a lot of blood and fantastic practical effects. The kills fit the theme of the film and make great use of the practical effects. Overall, Founds Day is a film that has some fun kills but fails to pull everything else together. While I wanted to love it, I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it in one sitting. This is one I would have to recommend skipping.
