Gorehounds Unite!

 STUPID TEENAGERS MUST DIE!....the title alone stands to make this film a classic in it's own right. When I first heard it I laughed out loud and just prayed that they could pull off a horror/comedy that works. So far few people have been able to do it with the possible exception of the Shaun Of The Dead guys. Youll have to read on to find out if they managed to pull it off here.

 STMD basically takes place in the early 1980's and follows a typical 80's film group of teenagers as they get together to hold a seance in a "Haunted House". Of course the Haunted House turns out to be really haunted and the kids are slowly sliced and diced in ground chuck. Everyones present here......The Hero,The innocent Girlfriend,The Goth Chick (very cute I might add!), The "tough guy", The hot blonde cheerleader, the shy weird guy who loves the blonde chick, A group of lesbians, and 2 movie geeks!

 If youve seen any of the 80's horror films youll know the formula well and it will help to undestand some of the jokes and lampoons the film offers. Now that you know where the films stands lets go ahead and see how it holds up to viewing.

  As I said above the hardest thing to do is to combine Horror and Comedy and have it work....add in the low budget aspect and you have a whole nuther set of problems to deal with. So does the film work? Let's look at both the good and bad of the film and at the end I'll give my overall view of the film in general. So lets start with what works........

 The cast is the first thing that will catch your eye.....I dont know how with the budget they had that they managed to snag some of these actors and actresses that include: Ashley Schneider (Superbad), Lindsay Gareth (The Comebacks),Christina DeRosa (Entourage), Renee Dorian (The Mangler Reborn), and a ton more! They are all good actor's and raise the bar on the project considerably. One of the better looking and talanted groups of actors Ive seen in a micro budget indie film in a long long time.

 The cast all look and act as their characters should with the possible exception of the tough guy......his acting is good but most of the kids who were picked on in my school would have been able to kick his ass! The characters looks and the references to the 80's help to draw you into the film as well. The film is cheesy but in a good way and Im glad he was able to harness that throughout the film (but this is a double edged sword as youll see below)

 The nudity is another stand out in this film, had they not done any or skimped on it the film would not have worked. All the women who did nudity did a good job of it qand actually make it sexy as opposed to 90% of the nudity you see in horror films now days where the woman is not the best looking or it's just done in very bad taste for no reason. Not the case here as I said all the nudity thats in here ends up being very erotic and sexy thanks to the great actresses.

 The locations in the film were pretty damn perfect as well,as it really was a beraten down and uncared for old house that they filmed in.The wardrobe is fitting and helps to draw you in as well.  The director knows his 80's slashers and it's apparent he has a deep love for the genre and the story he's telling. And it's here that the film really shines.

 Now onto the stuff that I didnt particulary like or didnt seem to work.....The first thing Ill mention is that the humor is really hit or miss, but this is the nature of the beast. About half the jokes fell flat for me but the other half had me rolling on the floor. This seems to be about par for course for any movie of this type so I won't hold it against them.

Another thing that I talked about above is the cheese factor.....and this has to do with the make-up in the film. While it may have been something done on purpose, the zombie/demon make-up just looked like run of the mill halloween make-up smeared on. It took me out of the film to a point as most of the classic 80's films still had good'decent cheesy make-up. They almost make up for this with how good the women look covered in the blood. Almost......

 The other main concern I had was the pacing. I had many times where a joke or scene just seemed to go on for to long. The story could have used a little more editing to make it tighter and a little more rapid fire. cut say 6-10 minutes off the running time and it'll make the film that much more enjoyable.

 The last gripe I had with the film as a whole was the camera that was used to film the movie and the lighting. The picture really showed the budget of the film more than anything else as it had a really muted and strange look to it and it didnt seem to have very good pick up in low light situations. That being said it may have just been the fact that it wasnt lit right. A tripod would also be a good thing as some shots tended to be kind of shaky at times.

 With all that being said I still have to give props to the filmmakers for even trying to acccomplish a project of this magnitude on such a meager budget. And there is more stuff to like in this film than hate.....The good outweighs the bad  but it's still not the easiest film to watch without alot of other elements.

 Altogether I will recommend this film for diehard fans of the 80's slashers and horror films it hit's more than it misses it's mark. The film would have scored higher had it had better camera and lighting and make-up effects .It's the perfect film to throw on and watch with your good buddies over a few brews and some other stuff that may not be altogether legal and have a few laughs. This film has it all Blood, Beautiful women, and Boobs! Whats not to like about that?

Visit the filmmakers at their official myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/stupidteenagers

or the official website: http://www.stupidteenagersmustdie.com/

RATING:

 2 1/2 out of 5 Severed Heads!