Film Review: Scare Package (2019)

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SYNOPSIS:

In SCARE PACKAGE, Chad Buckley is a lonely Horror aficionado, spending his days overseeing a struggling video store and arguing with his only customer, Sam. When an unsuspecting job applicant arrives, Chad sets out to teach him the rules of Horror; weaving in and out of hilarious segments geared toward the ropes and tropes of terror.

REVIEW:

SCARE PACKAGE was created by Aaron B. Koontz and Cameron Burns of Paper Street Pictures and is directed by Emily Hagins (My Sucky Teen Romance), Chris McInroy (Death Metal), Noah Segan (Knives Out), Courtney and Hillary Andujar (production design on The Wind), Anthony Cousins (The Bloody Ballad of Squirt Reynolds), Baron Vaughn (“Grace and Frankie”) and Koontz (The Pale Door) who all co-wrote the film with Frank Garcia-Hejl (“Ramsey Has a Time Machine”), Ben Fee (Missio: I See You) and John Karsko (After Dark).

I love SHUDDER. I’m always happy when that, “A SHUDDER Original” pops up on the screen. Scare Package arrives right in time for Halloween. Scream is a valid reason for this film to exist. “They always end horror movies in daylight.” A hilarious line and the fact that they are making a movie within a movie. It can be mind-boggling.

Scare Package plays homage to so many different scary movies.

Scare Package starts a section with “Mike Myers” played hilariously by, Jon Michael Simpson. There are two girls babysitting and Mike shows up. (What could go wrong?) The babysitters have a plan. Mike manages to get inside the house. They use the, “I’ll be right back” line. So, Halloween met Scream.

There are so many nods to horror movies in Scare Package. The JOE BOB air freshener and Oh, we are going back to videos. That was everything, when I was able to go and pick out scary movies from Blockbuster or Phar-Mor (Phar-Mor was a chain of discount drug stores and they had a section where you could rent movies. It was awesome, the horror section was always great.) Blockbuster closed and the action of going to Blockbuster and walking around the store, looking at empty box covers and maybe you know what you’re looking for? Maybe you were browsing around the store with friends.

It was exciting picking out a movie and finding out the movie was coming out. It went from VHS to DVD’s and now Blu-Ray’s. (I may have missed some things in between but that’s what I dealt with growing up. VHS and then DVD’s.)

Okay, so it deals with everything. Werewolves, cursed dolls, the whole shebang. Noah Segan is great as the hubby in the M.I.S.T.E.R segments. Jeremy King playing Chad is great. The various segments throughout the film are written telling different tales and different ways that horror movies are played out. Segments include: Cold Open, Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium, Horror Hypothesis, The Night He Came Back Again, So Much To Do.

The Slumber Party Massacre meets sort of The Craft segment with the extra Darth Vader breathing was great. The kills are insane, exaggerated of course for this. They did good with all the different effects. The one segment they try killing a killer so many different ways and he keeps coming back. Daisy (Chelsey Grant) is the heroine/ final girl in this segment. The Night He Came Back Part IV: The Final Kill. Daisy doesn’t want anymore boyfriends to get “impaled, decapitated or stabbed through the head.”

But, did he die? Who knows? You can never kill the bad guy or gal? This movie is funny, entertaining, it makes you want to watch it with friends, eat popcorn and laugh. The homage they play to say many of our beloved horror films gives you some nostalgia, especially with the video store.

The “Cenobite Café” WAS EPIC, what a tribute! It’s like a movie within a movie, making a movie. It’s great.

Zoe Graham is awesome as Jessie and even Joe Bob Briggs makes an appearance playing John Bloom. Now, we find the group locked in a room together. All of the directors did a good job. And, there it is, they shout out RANDY FROM SCREAM. They practice running, they are trying to figure out what sub-genre they are in. This is one of those movies you should watch on Halloween.

Make sure to watch Scare Package.