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6 Hellish Dinner Parties in Horror to Pair with Main Course ‘Await Further Instructions’
Dark Sky Films serves up a Christmas dinner from hell with Johnny Kevorkian’s sci-fi thriller Await Further Instructions, available in theaters and on VOD platforms now. Our own Patrick Bromley reviewed the film out of Cinepocalypse Film Festival earlier this year, where it earned the Audience Award, and called the film “smart, bleak, and effective.” The film stars David Bradley and Neerja Naik, with David Bradley (Games of Thrones), Sam Gittins (The Smoke), Holly Weston (Howl), Kris Saddler (The Hour), and Grant Masters (Silent Witness).
The plot follows the Milgram family, who have gathered together for Christmas dinner celebrations only to find themselves trapped within their home by a mysterious black substance right outside. The TV transmits a single-line message, “Await further instructions.” Paranoia turns their night of holiday cheer into a dinner party full of carnage. Because the best dinner parties offer up more than one delectable course, these six horror movies featuring dinners from hell serve as great pairings to watch with the main course, Await Further Instructions.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Tobe Hooper set the bar high with one of the most disturbing dinner scenes in horror. It’s by no means the formal affair that most dinner parties are, but it is ritualistic. Poor Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) outlasts her friends and family only to find herself a guest at the dinner table of those responsible for the deaths. Gagged and bound to a chair at the head of the table, she’s surrounded by the deranged family who intends for Sally to be the main course. It’s the climactic third act of one of horror’s greatest films, and it’s extremely intense.
The Invitation
It’s awkward enough to accept an invitation to a dinner party hosted by your ex-wife, in the very home you once shared no less, but what if the thing that drove you two apart comes back in a hugely destructive way? That’s the set up for Karyn Kusama’s suspenseful thriller. The dinner party in The Invitation rips open old, deep wounds for Logan Marshal-Green’s Will, ramping up the tension until it explodes in a shocking way.
You’re Next
This Adam Wingard directed horror comedy, written by Simon Barrett, is centered around a family reunion in rural Missouri. Family reunions are usually a recipe for disaster, but for the Davison family it’s quite deadly. Disfunction gives way to full-blown arguing at the dinner table, until a crossbow is shot through the window and the body count pile up begins. This home invasion movie defies convention, and it all begins with a dinner party.
Waxwork
If the concept of a dinner party is a bit too high brow for your tastes, then Waxwork is for you. A sort of anthology horror movie, a new wax museum owner lures his victims into his horror exhibits to kill them and unleash evil on the world. For China (Michelle Johnson), she steps into the exhibit set at a Gothic castle, with its rather handsome owner hosting a dinner party. Unfortunately for China, that owner is Count Dracula. She’s the only human at a table full of vampires, and she uncomfortably partakes in the slurping of their bloody soup course before realizing she might on the menu for the main course. Bloody, gruesome, and hilarious, the dinner party scene in Waxwork means this might be best saved for dessert.
We Are What We Are
The entire setup of this American remake of the 2010 film from Mexico revolves around the planning of one very important dinner for the Parker family. Opening with the death of Parker matriarch while out buying groceries, it then falls to the eldest daughter, Rose, to pick up the reigns of her mother’s religious duties and ancient customs. This includes preparing their ritualistic meals of feeding on human flesh. For Rose and her sister Ivy, they’re not quite as eager as their parents to slaughter and serve up humans for dinner, making for one contentious climactic family dinner party.
Calvaire
Borrowing similar visual cues from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, this dinner scene also features its lead bound to a chair and forced to dine with the strange town inhabitants he’s unwittingly crossed paths with. Unlike Sally Hardesty, though, poor Marc has been subjected to his captors’ torture for much longer, building up to a Christmas dinner submerged in pure insanity. Not unlike, Await Further Instructions. In a scene that feels like Deliverance meets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Christmas has never felt so demented on screen. Or as bleak.
Dine with Await Further Instructions, now in theaters and VOD platforms.
A luxury team-building trip descends into a bloody fight for survival against a vengeful retreat leader in Corporate Retreat, out today in theaters. It’s the latest entry in a cathartic subgenre of workplace horror that examines every harrowing aspect of job employment.
No job is safe from horror, either, from babysitting to even the most white-collar gigs. But if you work an overnight shift? All bets are off. Vengeful co-workers and bosses aside, the night shift is likely to come armed with witches, creatures, demons, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. Even deadly outbreaks.
Corporate Retreat, along with these five horror movies centered around some of the worst night shifts, will make you glad the weekend has finally arrived.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Passenger director André Øvredal goes full throttle for the scares in this quiet little chiller that sees a father and son coroner team stumped over the bizarre mysteries contained within the body of an unidentified young woman during an unexpected night shift. Well-executed scares, clever twists, and earnest performances by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch give this supernatural haunter serious heft. While the narrative bides its time unveiling the truth behind Jane Doe’s battered body, it’s heavily steeped in witchcraft. In other words, The Autopsy of Jane Doe presents a new take on the subgenre. More importantly, it’s seriously scary.
Cold Storage
COLD STORAGE, StudioCanal 2023
A lethal, mutated fungus breaks free from confinement deep within the bowels of a storage facility. At the frontlines of the madness are Teacake (Stranger Things’ Joe Keery) and Naomi (Barbarian‘s Georgina Campbell), two employees thrust into the middle of the chaos when they investigate an alarm beeping somewhere deep within the building. Director Jonny Campbell (Netflix’s Dracula), working from a script by David Koepp based on his novel, helms the goopy madness with workman efficiency. This lighthearted, goopy horror comedy romp makes the deadly night shift a bit more bearable.
Graveyard Shift
Graveyard Shift follows new hire Hall (David Andrews) tasked by his mean boss Warwick (Stephen Macht) to assist with the insane rat infestation beneath their mill. They find something much most monstrous as the cause. Though the film was panned, it’s a fun creature feature with an always welcome appearance by Brad Dourif as the intensely eccentric exterminator. The film also opts for a happier ending, whereas (spoiler), the story sees both Hall and Warwick getting devoured by the mutated rats, the crew in the upstairs mill none the wiser.
Last Shift
‘Last Shift’
Rookie Officer Jessica Loren (Juliana Harkavy) has been assigned to watch over a closing precinct on its final night of operation…alone. With nearly everything already moved over to the new station, including rerouted 911 calls, it should be a pretty quiet night as she waits for a Hazmat team to arrive to remove biohazardous waste. Instead, it becomes a waking nightmare as she’s forced to deal with unsettling visitors. Last Shift, co-written by Scott Poiley and director Anthony DiBlasi, brings the scares.
Intruder
The overnight stock crew of a local grocery store finds themselves falling victim to an unseen killer in this highly infectious late ‘80s slasher. The deaths are delightfully gruesome and inventive; look for this killer to make excellent use of grocery store items as weapons. Frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel directed this bloody slasher, which means a lot of overlap with the Evil Dead II. That means putting Sam Raimi in front of the camera for a change, along with Ted Raimi and Evil Dead II’s Dan Hicks. Look for a cameo by Bruce Campbell as well!
Corporate Retreat releases in theaters today; get tickets now.
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