‘Movie Theater Massacre’ Review: Not Without Its Charm, but Underwhelming Overall

Movie Theater Massacre needs a lot more massacring.

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Movie Theater Massacre was released digitally on February 4, 2025. (pictured: Jessie Carl and Linnea Quigley)

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What is Movie Theater Massacre About?

Movie Theater Massacre
Jake (Jalen Wilson-Nelem) tells Wily (LeJon Woods) about a strange experience he’s just had in the theater.

Movie Theater Massacre is part slasher, part ghost story, and part tribute to the experience of movie theaters.

As the story begins, the Redford movie theater is six days away from closing its doors for the final time. Over the course of the film, we watch the small crew of the theater as they go about their final few days working at the Redford. For some of them, it will also be their final few days of life. There is a masked killer stalking around the theater, picking off people as they isolate themselves during the course of their work shifts. If that wasn’t bad enough, there might also be something else, something supernatural, roaming the grounds of the Redford.

Movie Theater Massacre is the feature-film directorial debut of Ian Courtney who has previously worked as a production assistant on films including Hostel: Part III (2011) and Hell Baby (2013). Starring in Movie Theater Massacre are Caitlin Cavannaugh, Adam DeFilippi, Jalen Wilson-Nelem, Jessie Carl, and LeJon Woods. Scream queen Linnea Quigley also makes a cameo appearance.

Movie Theater Massacre Review

Movie Theater Massacre
Movie Theater Massacre is set in the pandemic era when lots of movie theaters closed down and never reopened. At the end of the movie, there is a dedication to two theaters that didn’t survive the forced shut down of movie theaters. (pictured: Adam DeFilippi and Caitlin Cavannaugh)

Movie Theater Massacre is a low-budget, independent movie that clearly comes from a place of reverence for the moviegoing experience. Each of the characters has a personal connection to movies, whether it’s through watching movies, making them, or just the fact that they’ve all worked together in the same theater for a long time. The impending end of their time together leads to many scenes of the Redford’s crew reminiscing with each other about the time they’ve shared and the films they’ve watched. These scenes have their charm. The problem is, they also take most of the movie’s focus, leaving the promised “massacre” of the title struggling to remain relevant.

Be aware, there are slight spoilers in the remainder of this review.

Movie Theater Massacre
Does the killer have a grudge with someone? Is he mad that the theater is closing? We’ll never know.

There is barely a massacre in Movie Theater Massacre. Sure, there’s a masked killer, but the few kill scenes in the first three-quarters of the movie are short and awkwardly depicted. The killer also has zero story attached to him. Like, none. The surviving workers don’t even realize he’s there until the very end of the movie when he makes himself known, his identity is never revealed, and his motivation is never touched on. Even a few lines of dialogue revealing that the killer has no discernible motivation (like Michael Myers in the original Halloween) would be better than not addressing it at all. So, the killer and the killings are extremely underwhelming.

Movie Theater Massacre
There is a seance, but it doesn’t really answer any questions. (pictured: Jessie Carl, Linnea Quigley, LeJon Woods)

There might be a reason for the lack of whelm in relation to the killer. There’s a subplot that pops up partway through the movie that takes focus away from the murders. The theater crew begins to suspect that there is a ghost in the Redford. It’s an odd splitting of focus that is just one subplot too many. Also, the ghost, bizarrely, ends up playing a big factor in the finale, despite the finale wrapping up in a way that is entirely too convenient and nonsensical for multiple reasons. What I’m saying is, the writing is strange to the point of being distracting.

Movie Theater Massacre
Jake (on the far left) is an amusing character. He wants to be a filmmaker, but through conversations we learn that he basically hasn’t seen any movies anyone talks about.

Movie Theater Massacre might have been better if it were titled something else and had just been a comedy about a movie-theater crew during their final week at work. No killer, no ghost. Just coworkers and friends talking about movies and trying to find a way to keep their hopes and dreams alive despite a changing world. It could have been like Clerks (1994), but for movie theaters. The horror aspects just don’t work very well.

Movie Theater Massacre Rating and Recommendation

Movie Theater Massacre
Watching a movie at home on a streaming service feels wrong when the movie is all about the joys of theaters. But, such is the state of the world we live in.

Star Rating: 2 out of 5

The characters are interesting, and the banter between them can be charming at times. Also, as a huge fan of the theatrical experience, it’s always nice to see a movie that conveys that same sentiment. Unfortunately, the overall movie is brought down by strange pacing and a lack of focus on its various subplots.

Movie Theater Massacre is currently available for digital rental and purchase on sites including Amazon Prime Video.

Further Reading

Meet The Author

Chris has a degree in film studies at Temple University’s campus in Tokyo, Japan. He is a renowned expert on horror cinema.