Vicious Fun: Review

24th June 2021

Joel (Evan Marsh) is a film critic and deputy editor at a magazine that specialises in horror. He’s got the self inflated importance of a critic, but his private life is a mess and he just can’t get over his ex, Sarah (Alexa Rose Steele).

Then one night he gets talking to a strange man in a bar named Bob (Ari Millen) and after a few drinks too many he stumbles into a room holding a private meeting. He sits down and introduces himself (under an assumed name) and the meeting begins and that’s when Joel starts to realise that he may be in trouble.

Heading the meeting is Zachary (David Koechner) and among the members are fritz (Julian Richings), Hideo (Sean Baek), Mike (Robert Maillet) and Carrie (Amber Goldfarb) who has a more relax attitude than the rest of the group. They’re all there for the same reason and that’s what makes Joel nervous – they’re all serial killers, and when they find out that Joel is not one of them, he has to fight for his life.

Vicious Fun is an action horror comedy directed by Cody Calahan and co-written by James Villeneuve. Set during the 80’s, there are plenty of throwback references to what some consider to be the golden age of horror.

The film also pays homage to other films such as Assault on Precinct 13 and Joel’s clothing are a clear reference to Back to The Future.

All the cast are great, from Goldfarb’s no nonsense femme fatale to Millen’s eccentric and psychotic villain and it all feels very well scripted, with little time for the audience to take a breath. Marsh also puts in a funny and likeable performance which makes a change for a character who is a film critic, Marsh’s personality shines through and he makes a worthy hero to route for when things start to get bloody.

There are also many moments of horror which would have been appropriate to the genre at the time, so fans of that era will not be disappointed when the bodies start piling up. Vicious Fun is exactly that and may even spawn a sequel.

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