Rating: B-
Dir: Josh Morris
Star: Sharnee Tones, Jordan Schulte, Michaela Da Costa, Shanay De Marco
As slashers go, this definitely tends on the side of understated. Yet it’s little if any less effective for the restraint, and on occasion it may even work in favour of this Australian film. Though it gains an early demerit, starting off by claiming to be based on true events, and that “The names of those involved have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred” Whatever, cobbers. Events unfold in 1997 as a band called Prom Night have a practice session at Elephant Studio. Isla (Tones) works there as an engineer, and is also the girlfriend of the band’s lead singer, Nic (De Marco), so it’s a convenient location.
However, there’s a pall over proceedings with a death of a known figure in the local music scene. Isla’s uncle Michael invokes the “27 Club”, which scares the heck out of bassist Roy, because that’s his age. In typical muso style, rather than working, there is instead goofing off, making out, hunting for snacks, etc. Eventually they get down to business, but when they play “Bliss of Evil,” it causes Isla to freak out, for reasons that are unclear at the time. Bigger problems quickly take over, with practice coming to a sudden halt when new guitarist Lee (Schulte) is found with a corpse, though proclaims his innocence. The phone lines are cut, and the studio doors chained shut. Whoever was responsible is still inside.
The main area this succeeds, is making the characters considerably more likeable than usual for the genre. It may partly be down to them being Aussies, who tend to have a down-to-earth nature that’s easy to warm to. Uncle Michael is a perfect example: despite owning a recording studio, his attitude towards modern music (or, at least, some types of it) is spot-on. Let’s just say, the shotgun being wielded top, is his form of musical criticism. He’s a relatively minor player, yet the same kind of thing goes for most of the roles. You’re at least somewhat vested in their survival, and given the low bar the slasher genre usually sets, this is a cut above.
It almost manages to pull everything together. But just when things are accelerating, we get an extended flashback of exposition, telling us, among other things, the reason for Isla’s trauma. Yet this robs the film of momentum, and it never quite recovers. A shame, since there have been sequences, such as the original depiction of her PTSD, that manage to do a lot with a little. We don’t even hear “Bliss of Evil”, just see Isla’s reaction to it – and that is more than enough. Given this is basically half a dozen people in a single location, it did an impressive job of generally sustaining interest. I’m interested in a seeing what Morris could do with a higher tier of resources.
The film is available now on VOD and Prime Video from BayView Entertainment.