‘GLEE’ fan favourite Heather Morris leads the cast of this throwback to 80s slashers, which is about a group of friends who reunite the night before their 10 year high school reunion, only to fall afoul of a psychopath in full graduation gown, who has a bone to pick with them.
After premiering in the UK last Autumn at FrightFest, the film was quietly sneaked out to VOD sites on April 25th in the UK, ahead of the Friday 13th May US release date. Director Anthony DiBlasi has an impressive number of horror movie credits under his belt with last year’s ‘Last Shift’ coming out of leftfield and winding up on a lot of horror fans top 10 of 2015 lists. I was therefore excited to see what he would do with an out and out slasher movie and for the most part, it was an enjoyable romp.
The screenplay by Laura Brennan was apparently written during the 90s post-Scream slasher boom, but it felt to me like it had been written even before that, as the characters weren’t very smart. In terms of plot, against her better judgment, Gaby (Morris) joins her former high school besties at pro hockey player Yoder’s fancy secluded house, where the friends are inevitably picked off one by one according to their yearbook superlatives.
Heather Morris aside, there’s not really anyone to root for, but Perez Hilton is a lot of fun and newcomer Tess Christiansen is now definitely on my radar. Where the film excels is in it’s set-pieces and awesome deaths. There’s one death in this movie that’s worth the rental price alone and there is a decent (albeit brief) chase scene.
I’m a huge fan of the slasher sub-genre. Lots of horror fans bemoan 90s horror, but I was still barely legal when Scream came out, so those movies and the ones which followed (IKWYDLS and UL), will always hold a special place in my heart, as they’re the first ones I was able to see on the big screen (I experienced all of Michael, Jason and Freddy’s exploits on VHS). Sadly, this film doesn’t even measure up to that level, never mind 80s classics.
OVERALL SUMMARY
I never give up hope that we’ll one day see a new slasher resurgence (the last time I enjoyed a slasher movie in the cinema was My Bloody Valentine in 2009). Most Likely to Die will tide us over until that day (hopefully) comes along.
