KILLER HOLIDAY (2013)

Studio:       Lionsgate
Director:    Marty Thomas
Writer:       Jon Zuber
Producer:  Michael Copon, Marty Thomas, Jon Zuber
Stars:     Michael Copon, Rachel Lara, Alex Mandel, Julia Beth Stern, Rachel Wixom, David Namminga, Matt Calloway, Gabriel Olivera, Noah Gibbings, Rich Hoag, Randolph Mantooth

Review Score: 

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Summary:

A road trip detour to an abandoned amusement park turns into a nightmare when a killer stalks eight friends on spring break. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Melvin ‘Spider’ Holiday cuts the face of a little girl out of a photo while recalling twisted memories of an amusement park, a little girl, and the murder of a man. Meanwhile, eight teenaged friends prepare for a road trip during spring break. As Taylor, Madison, Cammi, Adam, Derrick, Trevor, Cody, and Dylan pile into an RV outside, Spider murders Taylor’s parents upstairs. After the friends leave, Spider follows them in his red convertible.

The friends stop to get gas and pay $2 each to see a giant boa constrictor, which turns out to be a rubber creature prank played by station attendant Wild Jack. Detective Bodrogi and the police investigate the murders of Taylor’s parents. The teenagers happen upon a fallen road sign for the Muerto Ride Land theme park and decide to go there. On their way, they are met at gunpoint by rancher Henry Lee, who forces them to turn around. Later, the group decides to try passing through Henry’s road again. This time, Henry is strangely friendly and directs them towards the amusement park.

The friends push down the fence and enter the abandoned park. Taylor temporarily strands Madison in a bottle tree maze while the others explore the funhouse. Cammi finds a strange room with the photo that Spider defaced earlier.

Everyone regroups around a campfire outside the RV. Thinking that someone is playing a prank on him, Cody storms off alone when he is unable to find his guitar. Madison and Adam go looking for Cody back at the funhouse and come face-to-face with Spider. When no one returns, Dylan, Trevor, and Cammi decide to investigate as well while Derrick and Taylor stay in the RV.

Spider ties up Madison and kills Adam with flying shards from a shattered mirror. Madison escapes her restraints and flees. The other three searchers find Adam’s body and reunite with Madison. Cammi stays with Madison while Trevor and Dylan look for Cody in the funhouse.

Taylor lies down with her music in the RV and does not hear when Spider arrives and kills Derrick. Spider finds Derrick’s flip camera and watches the footage that Derrick shot of Henry trying to scare the teens away with a shotgun.

Dylan splits from Trevor. Trevor finds Cody tied to a chair in a tub of water while a television set dangles overhead. Cammi arrives as the TV falls in the water, but Cody is not electrocuted. Dylan flees to Henry’s house to use the rancher’s phone, but he discovers that Spider has incapacitated Henry and cut the phone line. Spider enters and seemingly kills Dylan. Spider then kills Henry for trying to warn the teenagers.

Cammi rescues Trevor and returns to Madison, but discovers that she is missing. Trevor frees Cody, but Cody is impaled by his own guitar that was rigged to fall when he left his restraints. Spider chases Madison through the bottle tree maze and kills her. Cammi finds Madison’s body and returns to the funhouse, where she discovers that Spider killed Trevor. Spider eventually traps Cammi inside the attraction.

Spider goes to the RV where it is revealed that he is involved with Taylor and she has been in on his crimes. After having sex, the couple returns to Cammi in the amusement park. As Cammi and Taylor struggle, Spider accidentally chops off Taylor’s arm with an axe. Taylor berates Spider for his stupidity. He becomes irate and decapitates her.

Spider and Cammi realize that they are half siblings from the same mother and that they shared a childhood together. Each child was told that the other died. Spider killed his father and his stepfather. Cammi incapacitates Spider and escapes to Henry’s house. She finds that Dylan is still alive and they drive away in Spider’s convertible.

Cammi wakes from a nightmare and tells her parents that she needs to find her birth mother. Cammi later hears strange sounds and Spider appears over her bed covered in blood.

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Review:

Before making “Killer Holiday” as his second feature film, director Marty Thomas practiced his trade on an exhaustive list of music videos for varied performers ranging from Madonna to Tupac.  Knowing that pedigree is a vital clue for solving the riddle of why the narrative sense behind “Killer Holiday” plays second fiddle to the film’s emphasis on hyper-stylized presentation values.

Taylor is a girl one year removed from a stint in juvenile detention played by an actress who was one year removed from her 26th birthday at the time of filming.  Her teenaged pals, similarly played by actors who in reality have not seen the interior of a high school in quite some time, pile into an RV and hit Route 66 for a road trip spring break.  Since none of them have seen an episode of Scooby-Doo before, an abandoned amusement park earns unanimous approval as an ideal detour.  Unfortunately for best-laid plans, a psycho with an affinity for pointed objects has been stalking the friends for miles.  And he has his own twisted ideas about how to turn their theme park getaway into an unforgettable adventure.

A press release from the production company touts its “chilling new villain” as being “in the iconic tradition of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger.”  It is an empty proclamation neglecting the fact that those three slashers are icons because of their signature silhouettes and memorable styles.  Melvin ‘Spider’ Holiday, on the other hand, walks in straight from the pages of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog with his pomade-slicked haircut and a pretty boy smile.  If Spider had the look of the sinister clown from the promotional artwork instead, then maybe he could apply for memorable killer status.  As is, his appearance is blandly generic, which only heightens the absent menace in his presence.

His teenaged victims match Spider in the dull department.  Constant pranks and unending insults ensure that no one is cast in a likable light.  The chubby goofball grates on his friends’ nerves, and the audience’s, by constantly commanding, “guys” every time he wants attention.  The girls get catty over who should have dibs on hot stuff Dylan.  The pals also strand each other in a maze and ditch one of their own behind a padlocked door for their own amusement.  With friends like these...

The worst aspect of their behavior comes to light when the film collapses completely in the latter half.  “Killer Holiday” sets the table with a hint of intrigue and a potentially fun dark carnival setting, and then it tumbles off a cliff of claptrap and clichés.  Trespassing on the grounds of an abandoned theme park is one thing, but these teens further prove that they have no idea how to survive a horror movie when splitting up and searching in the dark sounds like a sensible plan.

The first friend is found dead and another injured, cluing everyone in to the fact that a killer is loose inside the park.  Most people would pull out a phone or flee to safety and find some help.  These scatterbrains decide to leave one girl to console another while two of the men investigate the unlit funhouse alone.  Because that is a great idea.  One of the girls smartens up and decides to join the boys.  Too bad she has to leave the other girl alone in order to do so and by that time, the two males have already split up again.

Even before the characters start flatlining, “Killer Holiday” misses the mark for establishing a haunting mood.  Several scenes linger about while the group treads lightly through a maze and creeps about a haunted house upon first arrival at the park.  Except that these moments occur without seeing their stalker lurking in the shadows and without feeling a sense of impending danger.  As a result, there is no suspense in watching anybody pace in the dark.

The filmmakers do their best to create atmosphere with visual flair, but it never seems as though “Killer Holiday” knows what it wants to accomplish with its look other than being visually intriguing.  Familiar music video techniques of fast cuts and high contrast are on display.  There are also random black and white slowdowns and shots of things like a snake slithering around a knife that achieve no reactions other than disorientation and confusion over their intention.

Beyond that, more minutes are devoted to scenes that simply do not fit.  One lone sequence of an investigation into the serial murders introduces a detective with a noticeable to-do, only for none of the policemen to be seen again.  Director Marty Thomas channels his best Brian Doyle Murray impersonation during an amusing roadside diversion segment, but it has no bearing on the plot.  And the ending feels like “Killer Holiday” surrendering to convention with borderline comical plot twists.

Peeking hard between the lines, one can see good intentions in the movie’s DNA, but “Killer Holiday” lacks the follow-through to shock its monster to life.  “Killer Holiday” may look more professionally polished than most independent horror movies, but it is ultimately another uninteresting slasher with as dead of a pulse as its less technically accomplished competition.

Review Score:  40

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