Party Night
Written Review
Hi everyone and welcome to MyIndie Review Vlog, the show that gives you spoiler-free reviews of indie films. My name is Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions.
Today I’m going to be reviewing 2017’s Horror Feature, Party Night, produced, written and directed by U.S. indie filmmaker, and MyIndie featured artist, Troy Escamilla. Thank you, Troy for sharing your work with our show.
The story follows six young small-town teenagers, celebrating their high-school graduation on Prom night. Couples Amy and Nelson, Molly and Travis, and Olivia and Andrew, portrayed by Laurel Toupal, Drew Shotwell, Tommie Vegas, Billy Branigan, Destinie Orndoff and Ryan Poole.
The three couples decide to blow off their Prom’s after-party and go have a party of their own at Nelson’s uncle’s house in a secluded part of town by the lake.
They have a fun night of drinking, dancing, sex and talking about their issues. The fun’s over when a vicious killer crashes the party.
This film in its entirety, gives direct homage to 1970’s and 80’s Slasher horror. Even though the references are current, it still deals with the same issues small-town teenagers deal with at the last mile of puberty, while they are a short time away from leaving off to college and distancing themselves from everything they had known so far.
Escamilla has us, the viewers, invested in these kids for a substantial period of time before the tone shifts. He not only lets us get familiar with their personalities, but also depicts moments, that in my opinion, cleverly represent what lies in the subtext. We get to learn about their fears and desires and about some of their formed ideals on life and by that, see how different they are from one another, even though they grew up together.
In my mind, the new journey high-school graduates usually embark on as they are about to deal with a different type of reality when they leave for college, is referenced (in a way) by the abrupt shift in tone of a Slasher horror film, when the fun ends and terror begins.
The story itself deals with one of modern life’s most identifiable crossroads. The end of high-school, just before everything changes. Especially if you come from a small town, that time in your life should have more impact when it ends as most of the people you knew up to that point, you grew up with. You are, in most cases, going to leave everything you know and go to college. There you’ll meet new people, have new experiences and start pulling your own weight. It is scary and exciting all at the same time, as a necessary transition into maturity.
Party Night is a commendable achievement, one that can easily inspire more future filmmakers to go after their dream. Impressively enough, the film is not only Escamilla’s first feature, but it’s also his first film, according to IMDb. If you are an independent filmmaker, then I don’t need to tell you what it means to follow through and complete a film from start to finish.
Apparently Troy was just getting started with Party Night. Soon after completing his debut feature, he has already got around to completing a second horror feature, Stirring a.k.a. Mrs. Claus that will be out on DVD later this year and will be reviewed in future episodes.
To sum up, this is a fun, old-fashioned Slasher flick that takes you down memory lane stylistically. It has its share of problems but most are forgivable considering the fun nature of the film, its indie, low budget status and it being a debut feature. I can only imagine that the production process was not a picnic, especially for a first time director, not to mention the budgetary constraints and a likely long list of challenges. Having said all that, the production value is decent and the practical effects look great. All up, it is an undeniably impressive achievement that gives a very sound indication that Escamilla is a hard-working and enthusiastic storyteller.
Party Night gets a 7/10 on the Look at Me, I’m A Film Critic scale
Until next time, keep supporting Indie Film. My name is Asaf Angel, I thank you for tuning in to MyIndie Review Vlog.
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