I have the day off today because I wanted to get a few things done. A three day weekend doesn't hurt either. I have been trying to make a better effort to get some reviews out, as you can hopefully see. I don't have a lot of posts so far this month, but I'm still hopeful that I will get close to ten. It is time for an at-home review and since I no longer have a DVR, which I thought I did when I signed up for a new service, I went with a movie that Cattleworks sent to me a long time back. I actually have an extra copy of Killer Piñata (2015), so I will likely be doing a giveaway sometime soon. Let's see what I thought of it first though.
Before his family leaves on vacation, David (Steven James Price) is trying to find some piñatas for his son's birthday party. He isn't sure which kind to get, so decides to buy three in order to cover all bases with his wife. He spots one in a store that he really wants, but it has a tag on it saying it is not for sale. David gives the guy enough money to change his mind and takes them all home. After the party, Lindsey (Eliza-Jane Morris) talks to her parents about staying at the house instead of going on vacation. David isn't all that happy about it but allows it since she is old enough to do so. Of course, Lindsey invites some friends over and they play with one of the remaining piñatas. Unknown to them all, the remaining piñata is tired of seeing his fellow piñatas being killed and starts taking out the partygoers one by one.
Killer Piñata was co-written by Nick Weeks, Megan Macmanus, and Stephen Tramontana, who also directed. When you go into a film called Killer Piñata, I'm assuming you won't take it as a serious horror film. If you are, you will be disappointed. Killer Piñata starts off somewhat serious but always has some comedy lurking around. Once the killings really get going, it makes more of a shift into comedy. I've read some reviews that said that the first half is a bit of a struggle to get through. I didn't find that as much, but I understand where they are coming from. The first half tries to be funny as we get to know the different characters, but I didn't feel that it was working all that well. It wasn't until the piñata "comes to life" that things start to become funny, which was about halfway through the film. It wasn't because the film was trying to be silly by having a killer piñata. It was actually played fairly straightforward. The comedy comes from the situation more than anything else. It becomes a fun movie even if not everything gets explained. I'm still trying to figure out how a piñata is able to tie someone's hands together. Why does a blue liquid sometimes come out of people after they are dead? I don't know. The piñata is actually pretty cool. I will get into how it looks and stuff later, but I thought it was pretty powerful for a simple piñata. It can bite you somehow, it can get around quickly, and can apparently control a dead body. This last one surprised me some. The piñata doesn't do a very good job of controlling the body, but it was still funny to see. The characters beside the piñata are okay. There is a running joke through most of the film of Scott, played by Billy Chengary, trying to get with Lindsey. They used to date but now Lindsey seems to have an attraction for women that she is trying to work though. All Scott seems to think about is finding ways to get Lindsey interested, so it starts to get a bit old after a while even if some of it is pretty funny at times.
The effects for Killer Piñata are kind of cheesy, but it fits the style of the film. The bloody effects include an ear torn off and a penis gets chomped on. They aren't the best effects around, but they still work just fine for the tone of the film. The piñata itself looks like a normal piñata. It never changes or morphs into something else. I kept looking for the person who was controlling the piñata, as I assumed someone was holding the piñata and making it look like it was lunging forward, but the camera operator and/or editor does a good job making sure we never see that happening. I liked how the piñata would move about. We can actually see it move around some like the head moves around as it is looking around. I thought it was pretty cool how they were able to do that. The acting was just okay for me. I like Eliza-Jane Morris in the lead role here, but I was never all that impressed by any of the acting. It wasn't bad really, just nothing that I was impressed by. Nate Bryan, Lindsay Ashcroft, and Daniel Hawkes round at the cast as Lindsey's friends at the party.
There are some really funny moments to be found. I loved Billy Chengary's reaction to what the piñata was doing to him at one point. Scott and Lindsey making weapons were also pretty funny. Who knew it was so easy to make a shotgun? There is an animated sequence that explains how the piñata came to be. It was an interesting little side story, but I have no idea how the woman telling to story would have any idea about it. There are many moments where you just have to go with the story and not put a lot of thought into how characters know what they know or their reason behind some of their actions, like picking a bow over a shotgun inside a small house. Killer Piñata isn't a great film but it is certainly a fun one. I have to give the writers a lot of props for coming up with something so completely different for this movie. They also address this in the film when trying to figure out who to call for help. Who would believe that a piñata is going around killing people after all? If you are interested in watching this one, which I would suggest you do, you can find it on BluRay and it is also streaming on Amazon Prime if you have that. Check it out when you get the chance to do so.
3 out of 5 I wonder if I can find one for a pet
Before his family leaves on vacation, David (Steven James Price) is trying to find some piñatas for his son's birthday party. He isn't sure which kind to get, so decides to buy three in order to cover all bases with his wife. He spots one in a store that he really wants, but it has a tag on it saying it is not for sale. David gives the guy enough money to change his mind and takes them all home. After the party, Lindsey (Eliza-Jane Morris) talks to her parents about staying at the house instead of going on vacation. David isn't all that happy about it but allows it since she is old enough to do so. Of course, Lindsey invites some friends over and they play with one of the remaining piñatas. Unknown to them all, the remaining piñata is tired of seeing his fellow piñatas being killed and starts taking out the partygoers one by one.
Killer Piñata was co-written by Nick Weeks, Megan Macmanus, and Stephen Tramontana, who also directed. When you go into a film called Killer Piñata, I'm assuming you won't take it as a serious horror film. If you are, you will be disappointed. Killer Piñata starts off somewhat serious but always has some comedy lurking around. Once the killings really get going, it makes more of a shift into comedy. I've read some reviews that said that the first half is a bit of a struggle to get through. I didn't find that as much, but I understand where they are coming from. The first half tries to be funny as we get to know the different characters, but I didn't feel that it was working all that well. It wasn't until the piñata "comes to life" that things start to become funny, which was about halfway through the film. It wasn't because the film was trying to be silly by having a killer piñata. It was actually played fairly straightforward. The comedy comes from the situation more than anything else. It becomes a fun movie even if not everything gets explained. I'm still trying to figure out how a piñata is able to tie someone's hands together. Why does a blue liquid sometimes come out of people after they are dead? I don't know. The piñata is actually pretty cool. I will get into how it looks and stuff later, but I thought it was pretty powerful for a simple piñata. It can bite you somehow, it can get around quickly, and can apparently control a dead body. This last one surprised me some. The piñata doesn't do a very good job of controlling the body, but it was still funny to see. The characters beside the piñata are okay. There is a running joke through most of the film of Scott, played by Billy Chengary, trying to get with Lindsey. They used to date but now Lindsey seems to have an attraction for women that she is trying to work though. All Scott seems to think about is finding ways to get Lindsey interested, so it starts to get a bit old after a while even if some of it is pretty funny at times.
The effects for Killer Piñata are kind of cheesy, but it fits the style of the film. The bloody effects include an ear torn off and a penis gets chomped on. They aren't the best effects around, but they still work just fine for the tone of the film. The piñata itself looks like a normal piñata. It never changes or morphs into something else. I kept looking for the person who was controlling the piñata, as I assumed someone was holding the piñata and making it look like it was lunging forward, but the camera operator and/or editor does a good job making sure we never see that happening. I liked how the piñata would move about. We can actually see it move around some like the head moves around as it is looking around. I thought it was pretty cool how they were able to do that. The acting was just okay for me. I like Eliza-Jane Morris in the lead role here, but I was never all that impressed by any of the acting. It wasn't bad really, just nothing that I was impressed by. Nate Bryan, Lindsay Ashcroft, and Daniel Hawkes round at the cast as Lindsey's friends at the party.
There are some really funny moments to be found. I loved Billy Chengary's reaction to what the piñata was doing to him at one point. Scott and Lindsey making weapons were also pretty funny. Who knew it was so easy to make a shotgun? There is an animated sequence that explains how the piñata came to be. It was an interesting little side story, but I have no idea how the woman telling to story would have any idea about it. There are many moments where you just have to go with the story and not put a lot of thought into how characters know what they know or their reason behind some of their actions, like picking a bow over a shotgun inside a small house. Killer Piñata isn't a great film but it is certainly a fun one. I have to give the writers a lot of props for coming up with something so completely different for this movie. They also address this in the film when trying to figure out who to call for help. Who would believe that a piñata is going around killing people after all? If you are interested in watching this one, which I would suggest you do, you can find it on BluRay and it is also streaming on Amazon Prime if you have that. Check it out when you get the chance to do so.
3 out of 5 I wonder if I can find one for a pet
