Stage Fright (2014)

I watched this expecting it to be a regular old horror movie.Holy cow was I wrong.I'm not going to spoil any of the actual plot, but the blend of slasher-style horror, black comedy and Broadway musical really works. Once the first song got underway I was, to be honest, somewhat suspicious. I'm glad I didn't just give up on it, though. This was a real treat.Although there is a fair bit of graphic violence (it is a slasher film, after all) there is still an inherent amount of a comedic element even in the murder scenes. The way that they interweave what would, under normal circumstances, be a reasonably good slasher flick with a musical is what really makes this movie stand out and be unique.While there are certainly better ways to spend 90 minutes, there are certainly also worse ways too. Dive in with a willing suspension of disbelief and enjoy it.

A snobby musical theater camp is terrorized by a blood-thirsty killer who hates musical theater.The film has plenty of nice references early on to "Phantom of the Opera" and "Fantomas", with the "Phantom" theme throughout. Some have said the film draws from Argento's "Opera", but that is not necessarily the case. Beyond the generally theme (which is "Phantom"), there was very little "Opera".The supporting cast is solid, with the amazing Meat Loaf and even a brief but powerful performance from Minnie Driver. Allie MacDonald as the lead is amazing, and do not be surprised if she gets big really fast after this.The film widely received negative reviews, and the reasons are clear. The blend of humor, music and horror is not always flawless, and some of the songs are definitely better than others. Some probably enjoyed the heavy metal parts and disliked the rest (or vice versa). This is not on the same level as "Repo: The Genetic Opera", for example.

I just read the figures of the US release and I am speechless, it bombed miserably. What when wrong? I would like to know. Is it destined to become a cult classic? It is in my book! Saw it last night at FrightFest in London, the cinema was packed and everybody was having the time of their lives. I seldom enjoy a film as much as I've enjoyed this one. I love musicals and I love horror, so this one ticked all my boxes. It delivered on both fronts, aplenty! The songs sounded right out of a West End/Broadway production and the gore was Fangoria-licious.I strongly recommend it to anybody in the mood for a chop-em-to-pieces sing along!

Imagine if you took Disney's High School Musical series, threw in some stoned-looking teenagers, gay bashing comments, cursing and bad singing, along with a cliché story about an unoriginal slasher movie killer. Well, if that's your thing, then here you go! The acting was terrible, especially from the girl (main protagonist). She is a ditz, a bimbo and she dresses like a twelve-year-old, not to mention she looks like she's on something. For some unknown reason the singer Meat Loaf was in the cast, no idea why he's there. Perhaps the script writers were very drunk, or had gotten into the Windex in the custodian's closet of the film studio, I don't know. I think it's supposed to be a black comedy movie but I just didn't find the humor in it.The singing (yes it's a slasher musical), was weird and awful. Take several cats and chuck them in a dishwasher and you'll get a similar melody. The plot is weird and the movie seems aimed at kids ages 12 to 18 rather than the usual 18+ audiences of horror. Every character was shallow, there's even a girl who offers sex to a nerdy guy so he'll rig the voting for the lead actress in the theater camp's play.All in all this was pretty bad, no nicer way of putting it. I don't even want to know what the producers were thinking coming up with something like this.