Film Review: Death Do Us Part (2014)

SYNOPSIS:

A group of friends head out to a cabin in the woods for a bachelor/bachelorette party to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of Kennedy and Ryan. Unfortunately an uninvited guest crashes the party and starts killing off members of the wedding party left and right. Is the creepy guy they rented the cabin from responsible for the murders or is it someone a little more familiar?

REVIEW:

I hadn’t heard much about Death Do Us Part before I watched it so I didn’t think that it was going to be anything special but I’ll have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. While I wouldn’t really call it a slasher flick it does contain some slasher elements and I thought that it was just an interesting and fun little movie in general. I thought that it had a pretty strong script, the acting and characters were great, and I liked the fact that you had to figure out the identity of the killer (something that I am always up for as I love for my horror films to have an element of mystery to them). I dug this movie for a number of reasons and think that it has potential to become a fan favorite among viewers.

One of the biggest strengths of Death Do Us Part is the premise. I know, I know, it isn’t the most original in the world but I don’t care. I love these types of movies and thought that it delivered. It does an awesome job of combining elements of your typical slasher flick (the red herrings, the car refusing to start at the worst possible moment, the characters trapped somewhere while the masked killer picks them off, etc.) with that of an interesting whodunit murder mystery and I enjoyed the hell out of it and thought that it succeeded on all levels. While it isn’t that hard to figure out who the killer is (to be honest I put it all together pretty early on and wasn’t at all surprised by the big reveal toward the end) I still have to give the people behind it props for adding an element of mystery to it as it works for the most part (plus I liked the killer’s motive as I thought that it was different and original).

I also thought that the cast was top-notch. Julia Benson (who also co-wrote the script) kicks all sorts of ass as the naïve and slightly not-quite-there-mentally bride to be Kennedy (plus she was loads of fun to look at, as were all the women who appeared in the film. Seriously folks, there is a ton of eye candy to be found in this movie). I also thought that Emilie Ullerup was great as Kennedy’s way too nice best friend Emily, and Dave Collette did a very convincing job of playing the weirdo cabin caretaker who keeps popping up at random moments to effectively creep the characters out when they least expect it. My favorite though, without a doubt was Kyle Cassie as Chet, the wiseass comic relief character. I thought that he was genuinely funny and I enjoyed every scene that he was in.  I dug the characters (to be honest I hated to see some of them get killed off) and thought that the acting was excellent all around.

Speaking of the characters I also dug the fact that a couple of them aren’t exactly what they seem. I don’t want to give anything away because it would spoil the fun but let’s just say that the bridegroom Ryan (played perfectly by Peter Benson, who also worked on the screenplay) isn’t exactly the greatest person in the world and isn’t quite what Kennedy thought he was. One of the great things about this movie is that there is actually quite a bit of tension between the characters who are supposed to be such good friends (and family members in a couple of cases) and after the dead bodies start showing up (and even before then) a lot of them  begin to reveal their true colors.

I had a very good time with Death Do Us Part. In some ways it reminded me of a couple of other similar movies (such as the criminally underrated Sam’s Lake for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on) but all-in-all it is unique in its own way and I truly enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a fun horror flick that is entertaining and just loads of fun in general then you really need to check this movie out. What are you waiting for? Go out right now and watch it. You can thank me later.