The zombie apocalypse genre has been done to death both literally and figuratively since the days of George Romero. Despite some rare bursts of creativity here and there, we have seen almost every possible variation of the end of the world via hordes of the undead/infected at this point. That is why Alex Drummond’s attempt at a clever zom-com, Killer Party (also known as The Shower in some markets), isn’t exactly the game-changer the genre so desperately needs right now.
Killer Party features an ensemble cast, starring Kurt Ela, Rachael Drummond, Drew Benda, Stephanie Beran, Andy Hoff and a few others as a group of friends and colleagues (mostly failed actors and writers) who become trapped at a baby shower when a mysterious outbreak threatens the city. As the infected become increasingly violent, the group must overcome their own differences in order to survive.
Naturally, the plot isn’t going to win any points for originality, but Drummond’s approach to the script is at the very least peculiar. Killer Party doesn’t seem sure if it’s trying to be a horror comedy or just a horror movie with some comedic elements. Most of the humor falls flat, and the serious portions of the story are quite underwhelming in comparison to some previous entries in the genre. This results in a tone-deaf finished product that feels disjointed, as if someone mashed two completely different zombie movies into one weird experiment.
Either way, the entire cast and crew obviously had fun with the material they were given. The story unfolds mostly through the eyes of Kurt Ela (Nick), but we do get some nice character interaction that keeps things fresh. There were even some scenes that could have been genuinely moving had the rest of the movie decided on what emotional direction it was going for. In a way, there are several good moments and clever ideas hidden in this film that could have been made into another, better movie.
Drummond’s direction was solid, but at times it feels as though he doesn’t quite know how to deal with tension and gore in a ‘light-hearted’ feature like this one. This is really more of a script problem, but it still hampers the viewer’s enjoyment of Killer Party. Perhaps the film’s greatest problem is the lackluster “ending”, as the movie doesn’t really end, it just stops, and then the credits roll. While some of the character development was well handled, nothing about the film felt satisfying, and the ending is just another example of that.
That being said, Killer Party isn’t an awful mess of a film, as it has some charming moments sprinkled here and there, despite the confusion. An entirely horrific or entirely comedic cut of the film may have ultimately worked better, but there’s still some merit to the movie that we ended up getting. I can’t exactly recommend it as a great zombie flick (if such a thing can be allowed to exist in an over-saturated genre like this one), but there are worse things to watch on a late-night horror binge.