After gathering together for a party in the woods, a group of friends finds that the recently-escaped serial killer who used to live in the house has arrived at the house and begun killing them off one-by-one while being secretly disguised as one of them and must escape his bloodied clutches to get out of the house alive.
This one ended up being a surprisingly decent slasher. One of the better features here is the fine early setup that gets everything going quite well. Providing the reasoning for not only his burned features but his murderous personality, there's a lot to like as well as the escape and resulting arrival at the party they're setting up. Managing to give a reason for how he got a fantastic mask with some fine surprise kills mixed in, this section features some fine early slasher scenes. From there, the idea of the masked killer working through the party undetected with his disguise as the party rages on gives this a solid ride. Although there was almost no suspense since the killer never stalked anyone and just seemed to show up randomly behind someone and then kill them, this format provides some cool murders as the large body-count is knocked off in grisly fashion. It relies mainly on the mistaken identity to setup its kills as no one realizes what's going on instead, giving this a lot to like. This one does have some pretty big flaws in it. One of the biggest drawbacks is the whole concept of the party being held since this group falls under the cliched genre trap of not being friends who would throw such a party. There's nothing about this bickering, self-centered and unfriendly group that suggests they're friends, especially with the entire premise of the prank pulled on everyone taken into consideration. This makes them insufferable, unlikable and rather obnoxious even after what they do earlier. The other factor here is a series of storyline issues that are highly illogical and outright annoying. Though the backstory makes the killer's rampage somewhat rational, the connection the kids' party feels illogical and improbable, much like the reaction to the escape which is all clumsy and ineptly handled. That leads into the pacing where it takes an eternity to start wiping people out since it tends to focus on the party more than the killing in the early parts, so it has a long build-up, but overall it's quite decent.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Graphic Language and a sex scene.
This one ended up being a surprisingly decent slasher. One of the better features here is the fine early setup that gets everything going quite well. Providing the reasoning for not only his burned features but his murderous personality, there's a lot to like as well as the escape and resulting arrival at the party they're setting up. Managing to give a reason for how he got a fantastic mask with some fine surprise kills mixed in, this section features some fine early slasher scenes. From there, the idea of the masked killer working through the party undetected with his disguise as the party rages on gives this a solid ride. Although there was almost no suspense since the killer never stalked anyone and just seemed to show up randomly behind someone and then kill them, this format provides some cool murders as the large body-count is knocked off in grisly fashion. It relies mainly on the mistaken identity to setup its kills as no one realizes what's going on instead, giving this a lot to like. This one does have some pretty big flaws in it. One of the biggest drawbacks is the whole concept of the party being held since this group falls under the cliched genre trap of not being friends who would throw such a party. There's nothing about this bickering, self-centered and unfriendly group that suggests they're friends, especially with the entire premise of the prank pulled on everyone taken into consideration. This makes them insufferable, unlikable and rather obnoxious even after what they do earlier. The other factor here is a series of storyline issues that are highly illogical and outright annoying. Though the backstory makes the killer's rampage somewhat rational, the connection the kids' party feels illogical and improbable, much like the reaction to the escape which is all clumsy and ineptly handled. That leads into the pacing where it takes an eternity to start wiping people out since it tends to focus on the party more than the killing in the early parts, so it has a long build-up, but overall it's quite decent.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Graphic Language and a sex scene.