If you are going to reference a film or genre extremely closely then you need to do one of two things. Either, like in Scream, you respectfully and cleverly parody your chosen subject while remaining true to an original story or, like in the Scary Movie franchise, you simply lampoon a number of famous clichés and scenes. Saturday Morning Mystery (or Massacre) isn’t shy of its source material but it doesn’t quite deliver on either of these.
While suffering from cash flow problems four friends, who in some cases are more, Chad, Floyd, Gwen and Mona take on a job to debunk the rumours that a local manor house is haunted. The house has a grisly past involving cults, child murders and sacrifice and the group are determined to complete the job and get paid as quickly as possible. However as the night progresses they realise their task may not be as easy as they first thought and events take a turn for the worse as tensions within the group are revealed and the truth of the house is discovered. The problem for me with Saturday Morning Mystery is that it doesn’t persevere with its original premise. Initially we are led to believe they are ghost hunters, explainers of the unexplained and the unravellers of mysteries. When they first arrive at the haunted house there are enough jumps and shadowy movements to suggest that it may really be haunted and the group might have met their match.
Unfortunately around half way through the film the story changes direction into something more akin to the Wrong Turn movies and this didn’t quite work for me. What began as a creepy and in places atmospheric tale quickly became a chase movie with plenty of gore and nasty deaths. The performances are fine if a little overly intense as if the cast are trying to out-act each other and the characters are not particularly likeable. As true natures are revealed you lose any empathy you may have had for them and there is a sex scene that serves no narrative purpose and is there purely for titillation. The direction starts off very well, creating the atmosphere and setting the scene with care and thought but as the chase begins this is forgotten and everything becomes a little more routine.
This could have been an interesting film, a decent parody of the cultural icon that is Scooby Doo; this is even referenced in the first act but in fairness isn’t overplayed. It is a shame that the filmmakers didn’t continue the ghostly theme as this was far more interesting and creepy than what we eventually see. In the end I found myself not really caring who survived and who didn’t and just waiting for the end.
OVERALL SUMMARY
I’m not sure who would enjoy this film. It isn’t funny enough, isn’t scary enough and the ghostly atmosphere is quickly replaced by running and screaming. Sometimes less is more.
