PARTY CRASHER

Written, Edited, Produced, and Directed by Mark Mason

Young Henry - Randy Ackerman
Older Henry - Mark Mason

Excuse me while I park my Saturn in one of the plot holes in this movie. You also might want to give me a minute or two to tie the noose and suspend my disbelief.

In the movie's defense, PARTY CRASHER has many good ideas. Unfortunately, writer/editor/producer/director/actor Mark Mason goes nowhere with any of them.At times it's better to share the responsibility and bring in other minds for creative input. You've got a killer with ESP, but hardly uses it. You've got a killer who just wants to be accepted by his friends, but can't stop killing them. You've got a killer who should have been in a better movie.

It's been a long time since I've been this hard on a movie. It bothers me that this makes it onto the shelves of Hollywood Video, as part of their exclusive First Rites line, when there is so much more deserving material out there. SATAN CLAUSE is a better slasher movie than this, at least that one had a tight script. Production values and continuity can be overlooked, but you can't overlook a bad script.

For his 16th birthday, Henry's parents send the boy out to pick up all his friends in the family limo for a big 'ole southern birthday party. The cousin of one Henry's friends dumps 25 hits of acid into Henry's drink. During his super-mondo trip, Henry breaks bad with butcher knife on a few of the party guests.

Many years later…

Henry's parents fight for him to be released into their custody. They even go so far as to recreate his hospital room in their home, complete with padded walls and barred windows. In some seriously long-winded exposition, Henry's doctors tell us that he wears a Hannibal Lector-like mask out of shame for his actions. He no longer speaks, he only writes his requests on a piece of paper. And somewhere along the way, Henry's gained the ability to read people's minds. What the hell? (That's exactly what I said). While that premise has promise, the filmmakers never develop it. Why even bother to bring it up?

As far as I'm concerned, an undeveloped movie is an unfinished movie.

On the technical side, PARTY CRASHER does have a few pluses. For the most part, the cinematography is way above average. Although there are times, especially an establishing shot early into the party scene that is drags on for too long, where the camera work is sloppy. You can blame that on bad editing technique. If something doesn't look right, cut around it. This is especially true if it's a commercial release. Besides, audiences in general react stronger to tighter paced films. There's just less downtime.

The filmmakers are running a contest where anyone can submit a script for the sequel. I STRONGLY suggest anyone reading this to give it a shot. Maybe you can fill in a few of those damn potholes…er…plotholes. Hell, maybe I'll give it a shot and see if I can put my money where my mouth is.

---

You can find PARTY CRASHER at any Hollywood Video store as part of their exclusive First Rites line of videos.

www.partycrasher.com
www.partycrasher2.com
www.hollywoodvideo.com