Heading to a special after-party, a group of friends arrive at a secluded cabin in the woods for a special after-prom party only to find the area being stalked by a ravenous killer who begins to kill them off one-by-one and must find a way to stop him and get away from the house alive.

This one wasn't all that bad of a low-budget slasher. One of the main positives here is the rather solid homage to the old-school slasher setups that are usually featured here. The general setup of the group heading out into the middle of the woods for a secluded party no one knows about and coming across the killer hunting in the area serves as the usually fun setup that emerges here as the to-the-point storyline and shorter running time keeps this quite heavily in line with that style. That, in turn, leads into the other big aspect to like here with the slashing scenes which typically take on the quick and brutal style. From the opening spree murders that set the film up, to the deaths around the cabin that spring up and feature them finding the killer taking them out which forces them to engage in several confrontations with him around the cabin which has some fun encounters. Preparing the way for the final girl chase around the cabin finding all the dead bodies left around for the final confrontation, these here are all that really hold this one up. Among the first problem here is the utter ridiculous storyline that offers up no real sense at all. The idea of the group of kids going to a cabin in the woods that a friend owns the night after prom lets out is such a goofy premise for these kinds of genre efforts and really stretches the kind of incredulity already when it covers their lack of a party that concerns ridiculously petty teenage problems since this weak idea doesn't really work well enough to last for a feature-length idea. Lastly, the film is so cheaply made that it's nearly impossible to take this seriously in the slightest. The sound is so hard to hear that it's at times impossible to pick out what's being said, the general look and feel of the cabin speaks highly to the idea of just having used public property without permission and the special effects in total are just cringeworthy. The blood is about the consistency of colored water, trickles out like water and resembles food-coloring while the less said about the decapitation the better. These are what really hold this one back the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, a mild sex scene, and underage drinking.

Shot in sixteen days and funded through Kickstarter, Party Night is a love letter to low budget slasher flicks of the 80's and already I feel at risk of swallowing my own tongue. I usually hate this kind of pandering because often it's just a painful reminder cynical and cannibalistic nature of contemporary pop culture or it's simply the product a couple of horror fanboys unable to even spell the word accessible.

Party Night has these homage elements, but they are so minute, they are barely worth of note. I don't know whether inexperience or keen instinct was at play, but writer/director Troy Escimalla did the right thing and made a fully authentic, contemporary version of the film's that inspired him.

Party Night is short and sweet and cheap. It relies on two things, it's cast, who have great chemistry together and who all deliver unexpectedly organic performances, and it's brutal kills which cover up the frugality with an ostensibly cruel tone. There are no latex explosions here, but then again, this film never feels like an unintentional parody. A firm grasp is kept on mood and pace and honestly, that is the kind of directorial wariness that separates the men from the boys.

In conclusion, I'm glad to say that Party Night has one hell of a misleading one sheet and is not an insufferable fan film that overstays its welcome with the tagline. There's form, there's tact, there's surprisingly good acting. The time flew passed as i watched this and yes that does have something to do with the running time being seventy minutes, but I can clearly imagine myself sitting through another twenty as the characters were just that likable and the suspense was that tangible. I would definitely recommend this one.

I checked this film out on Amazon Prime and it was a fun short 1 hour 10 minute ride. The acting is decent and while this isn't "horrifying" it's a fun throwback slasher flick that does what it sets out to do which is entertain. I'm interested to see what else the director has to offer with his other films.