Review by
Sue Finn
Directed by: Erik Bloomquist
Starring: Devin Druid, Naomi Grace, William Russ, Emilia
McCarthy, Amy Hargreaves
Lovesick teenage lesbians Melissa and Alison are sharing a romantic moment
on a bridge when one of them is brutally murdered by a person in a creepy
mask. Welcome to Founders Day, a film that wants to embrace every slasher cliché under the sun and
have fun doing it.
In the sleepy town of Fairwood there's an important mayoral election
happening, but sitting mayor Blair Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves,
13 Reasons Why), in time-honoured Jaws-mayor tradition, has no intentions of cancelling the Founders day
festival despite the murder the night before.
The victim's father is none other than her political rival Harold Faulkner
(Jayce Bartok, hamming it up) and he intends on ousting Mayor
Gladwell from her place on the throne with his campaign for change.
There's teenage angst and infidelity within the core teenage friendship
group, with regrets and hard feelings aplenty. Young Adam Faulkner (Devin Druid, so memorable in 13 Reasons Why, is charismatic in this role) flounders under his father's reputation
and laments the loss of his relationship with Lily Gladwell, the daughter
of his father's nemesis. Allison (Naomi Grace) dreams of leaving
their small town and making something more of herself, but the killer
seems to have other aspirations for her, killing those in her circle as he
draws ever closer to her. With horny couple Britt and Tyler and bad boy
Rob, not to mention the police who are hot on the killer's trail, there's
more than enough interesting and well-drawn characters to get involved
with before the killer gets to work whittling down the cast.
Of course, being a slasher, it matters that things are handled well in the
death department, and you can rest assured in that regard - the murders
themselves are inventive and well-done, and utilising the many "tools" of
justice and political support as weapons is a nice touch!
A horror ostensibly about politics, vanity and ego, this is mostly fun. I
particularly loved the candy-eating world-weary Commissioner (Catherine Curtin
of Orange is the New Black) – the script needed more of this character in my opinion; and the
autumnal feel of the whole affair. What doesn't work for me is how I saw
the killer's identity from the second they appeared onscreen; the earnest
monologuing in the finale; and the length (at least 15 mins should have
been shaved). There are also perhaps too many characters to do them all
justice, but that's a minor quibble.
This is extremely well made with an obviously confident director in
Erik Bloomquist (who also co-wrote the screenplay with
Carson Bloomquist) and some inspired cinematography from
Mike Magilinick. In fact, from the sound to the sets to the music,
nothing indicates that this is low budget.
I especially enjoyed the soundtrack as well as the individual songs chosen
to play throughout the movie, and the awesome animated end credits.
This reminds me of Scream in its young cast and wry humour,
but it also harks back to many horrors of the '90s with its story
structure and look.
A solid effort, I'm sure this will appeal to anyone lamenting the lack of
fun-but-not-dumb slashers that aren't ugly or mean spirited.
As far as recent slashers go, this one gets my vote!
Founders Day is on UK/ROI VOD from
April 29th.