Okay, gang: I’m stepping out of my usual comfort zone for a local movie review.
I caught ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD at a preview on August 11th. You can see the one-night-only local premiere this Thursday, Aug. 25th at 8pm at the Esquire Theatre in Clifton.
Think Friday the 13th meets The Big Chill as a group of high school friends reunite decades later in the very woods where they were last together as a group.
Produced on a shoe-string budget, AYFAD is written and co-directed by local comedian Ricky Glore who also plays Matt, a former wrestling star who peaked in his “glory days” of high school. A drunken email to members of his high school “pack” serves as the imputes for the reunion. Little do they know a killer is among them.
Glore’s fondness for the genre is easily evident. The movie is a bit more comical than you normally get with a slasher film, with some fun over-the-top characters and a cornucopia of grisly, blood-spattering deaths that you come to expect in a slasher film.
If I would have one complaint, it felt like Matt’s downward spiral was given a bit too much screen time that might have been better spent fleshing out the backstory of the remainder of the “pack.” Once the deaths start, they come fast and furious as the movie charges to its resolution. Don’t miss the obligatory credits scene and a promise of a sequel in ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD TOO.
Overall a low-budget, tongue-in-cheek slash fest that shows promise from all those involved.
Click here for more information on the Aug. 25th premiere at the Esquire Theatre
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 