As we go through this final week of Creeptober, now’s as good a time as any for a party. The subject matter of our marathon is going to get much heavier in the latter half of the week, so we might as well have fun now. That starts tonight as we watch Murder Party.
Reacting to Murder Party
Murder Party was written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the same filmmaker who made the excellent horror/thriller Green Room (2015), and he most recently wrote and directed Rebel Ridge for Netflix. My first encounter with Saulnier’s work was with Blue Ruin (2013), a revenge thriller which I still consider his best film. It was after I’d seen Blue Ruin but before Green Room that I discovered Murder Party.
Going into this movie after watching Blue Ruin was quite a surprise. Murder Party feels like a director’s early work. It has that aura of a bunch of friends getting together to finally make a “real” movie and figuring things out while the production is already underway. It feels like that, because that’s what it is. That indie, “just make the thing” attitude that permeates the film is part of why I love it as much as I do.
Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier, producer/co-star Macon Blair, and star/producer Chris Sharp all grew up in Virginia making movies together. If you look at the cast and crew list, you’ll see more Saulniers and Blairs. Skei Saulnier, Jeremy’s wife, played the cheerleader-costumed Sky in the movie, and she was also a location manager, costumer, and producer. In the commentary Jeremy says that her character needed to be killed early in the movie because of her value as a crew member behind the scenes.
Also, Macon Blair’s brothers, Brooke and Will, did the musical score for Murder Party. They’ve since gone on to accumulate quite an impressive resume of film scores, including their latest, The Toxic Avenger (2025), which was directed by Macon Blair. What I’m getting at is, I love the friends and family atmosphere of Murder Party.
I also love that it’s one of those comedies where the jokes will only land for about half the audience. Murder Party is a deeply silly movie based on an absurd premise. A lonely guy randomly finds an invitation to a party (literally called a “murder party” on the invitation), and he decides to attend just because he doesn’t want to move his cat off his chair so he can sit down and watch a few horror movies. It’s a totally goofy premise, and the deadpan way this “joke” is conveyed is a great way to weed out anyone who isn’t into the film’s brand of humor. I feel like if you’re surfing Tubi and start to watch Murder Party, you’re most likely to switch to something else within the first ten minutes. If you’re into the humor by that point, there’s a good chance you’ll stick around until the end.
The setup once Chris gets to the party is great. The personalities of all of the artists/murderers are immediately distinct, and you can sense the in-fighting to come right away. The costumes help with being able to get a quick read on the characters’ personalities, but the way each actor launches into their role right away is also part of that. It seems like this was a fun film to shoot from an acting perspective, though Chris might have a different perspective since he was tied to a chair for nearly the entire film.
I think it’s hilarious that the “star’ of the movie, Chris, barely does anything for about three-quarters of the film. He’s front and center on the poster, but he probably has the fewest lines. The character is also so incredibly bland. He barely reacts until a few of the more harrowing moments, and then he reverts back to his normal, bland self right after. I find that sort of thing infinitely amusing.
Not all the jokes land even for me though. There’s one in particular during the truth serum scene that I wish wasn’t in there. There are also a few that fall a little flat either through execution or because they didn’t have the time or budget to get the perfect shot or edit into the movie. For instance, when Alexander is attacked by his drugged-up dog towards the end of the movie, he leaves and comes back with his lips chewed away. It would have been nice to see a little more of that happening, and I think the visual connection between his teeth exposed here and him baring his plastic fangs when he first arrived at the party could have been stronger. But that’s what happens with first features like this. Some things don’t go to plan, but there are hopefully plenty of happy accidents along the way.
Murder Party is at its best when the characters are all just talking to each other. The banter is fun, the dialogue is usually witty, and the snark they throw each other’s way is what I love most about this movie. What can I say? I like a dry, goofy comedy with occasional bursts of bloody violence.
