I made it out to my second horror movie festival this year. I will be there all weekend most likely. I got there just a little late Friday night and I dozed off a little during one of the shorts. When it came time for the last screening, which was the only feature-length film of the night, I was wide awake. I won't get a lot of reviews out of this festival, but I'm thinking I will have five when it is all said and done. The movie I watched Friday night was called Stirring (2018), which will be renamed to Mrs. Clause when it gets a wider release.
Danielle (Hailey Strader) is pledging to the same sorority that her murdered sister once belonged to. The sorority house is getting ready to throw its first Christmas party in many years. Before the part can get started, Danielle and the other girls start to get threatening emails and texts. As the party gets going, the girls and their guests start to get picked off one by one. Who could be doing it though?
Stirring was written and directed by Troy Escamilla/ Things start off with a woman going through a hazing in order to get into a sorority. She gets in after doing a couple of humiliating things, that we get to see anyway. Things don't really stop there though as the leader of the house, I guess you would call her that, goes on to humiliate this woman even more after she has gotten in. After pushing her too far, she murders the one who has been humiliating her and then hangs herself. This was a fairly short opening that was right to the point. It helps set things up as we move ten years to present day. We now know what has happened and when it is brought up, there doesn't need to be much of an explanation. Escamilla goes all out to make sure we know it is around Christmas time. There are lots of decorations to found and some of them even get used for murder weapons. That was actually the highlights of the movie for a good while, seeing which Christmas type thing the killer would use next. The killer wears a mask, which I didn't really care for much. I get why it was done so we won't know who the killer is, but it isn't like there were many likely suspects. It was easy to rule out the other students because they tended to be with others when a kill would happen. Despite being a typical slasher film in the way of kills happening one at a time while away from everyone else, I was enjoying the film. Sadly, it starts to backslide during the last act. The kills aren't as creative or as gory and it starts to feel a little rushed. One of the girls tries getting back into the house, after going outside to meet her boyfriend, and can't seem to get back in but a campus police officer can walk in whenever she wants. Stirring also offers up one of the most stupid scenes I have watched in a long time. As the killer confronts the last two students in the house, the officer comes in and tells everyone to stop while she calls 911...and killer and students just stand around while she does just that. The officer doesn't tell everyone to drop their weapons or anything like that, they all just kind of stand around. The scene gets explained in a way, but it could have been done a lot better.
The early effects are great. A few slashed throats and other nice effects with plenty of blood being pumped out. What I liked about the early effects is that while they were bloody, it wasn't done in an overkill type of way. I wouldn't call the later effects bad, but they don't match with the early effects. The last kill of the film was pretty good at least. The acting was actually really good. Brinke Stevens shows up as the mentioned campus officer. Helene Udy shows up as the mother of the girl who hung herself all those years ago. I didn't recognize her or her name until I checked out her IMDb page. It was good to see another horror actor return to the genre. There wasn't really a lead actor in Stirring, but Hailey Strader played the sister of the murdered sorority woman. I think I would find it really weird living in the same house where my sister was murdered, but whatever. Her character is as close to a lead as it gets here. Heather Bounds was also a standout with her acting.
This makes Escamilla's second horror film with a third film on the way. I have not watched his first film, but I sure want to after watching Stirring. I'm hoping his next film will be even better than this one was. I generally don't mind that a film isn't perfect since there is no such thing, but the last act was a bit hard to get through. At least the scene I thought of as really stupid made me laugh some and I could tell I wasn't the only one that found it funny in a bad way. This was too bad because it was looking to be a movie I would love. Even so, there is enough here that I really liked. If you love your slasher films, Stirring is worth checking out. I hope you will be able to find it once it does get a wider release.
3 out of 5 Death by a large candycane was great
Danielle (Hailey Strader) is pledging to the same sorority that her murdered sister once belonged to. The sorority house is getting ready to throw its first Christmas party in many years. Before the part can get started, Danielle and the other girls start to get threatening emails and texts. As the party gets going, the girls and their guests start to get picked off one by one. Who could be doing it though?
Stirring was written and directed by Troy Escamilla/ Things start off with a woman going through a hazing in order to get into a sorority. She gets in after doing a couple of humiliating things, that we get to see anyway. Things don't really stop there though as the leader of the house, I guess you would call her that, goes on to humiliate this woman even more after she has gotten in. After pushing her too far, she murders the one who has been humiliating her and then hangs herself. This was a fairly short opening that was right to the point. It helps set things up as we move ten years to present day. We now know what has happened and when it is brought up, there doesn't need to be much of an explanation. Escamilla goes all out to make sure we know it is around Christmas time. There are lots of decorations to found and some of them even get used for murder weapons. That was actually the highlights of the movie for a good while, seeing which Christmas type thing the killer would use next. The killer wears a mask, which I didn't really care for much. I get why it was done so we won't know who the killer is, but it isn't like there were many likely suspects. It was easy to rule out the other students because they tended to be with others when a kill would happen. Despite being a typical slasher film in the way of kills happening one at a time while away from everyone else, I was enjoying the film. Sadly, it starts to backslide during the last act. The kills aren't as creative or as gory and it starts to feel a little rushed. One of the girls tries getting back into the house, after going outside to meet her boyfriend, and can't seem to get back in but a campus police officer can walk in whenever she wants. Stirring also offers up one of the most stupid scenes I have watched in a long time. As the killer confronts the last two students in the house, the officer comes in and tells everyone to stop while she calls 911...and killer and students just stand around while she does just that. The officer doesn't tell everyone to drop their weapons or anything like that, they all just kind of stand around. The scene gets explained in a way, but it could have been done a lot better.
The early effects are great. A few slashed throats and other nice effects with plenty of blood being pumped out. What I liked about the early effects is that while they were bloody, it wasn't done in an overkill type of way. I wouldn't call the later effects bad, but they don't match with the early effects. The last kill of the film was pretty good at least. The acting was actually really good. Brinke Stevens shows up as the mentioned campus officer. Helene Udy shows up as the mother of the girl who hung herself all those years ago. I didn't recognize her or her name until I checked out her IMDb page. It was good to see another horror actor return to the genre. There wasn't really a lead actor in Stirring, but Hailey Strader played the sister of the murdered sorority woman. I think I would find it really weird living in the same house where my sister was murdered, but whatever. Her character is as close to a lead as it gets here. Heather Bounds was also a standout with her acting.
This makes Escamilla's second horror film with a third film on the way. I have not watched his first film, but I sure want to after watching Stirring. I'm hoping his next film will be even better than this one was. I generally don't mind that a film isn't perfect since there is no such thing, but the last act was a bit hard to get through. At least the scene I thought of as really stupid made me laugh some and I could tell I wasn't the only one that found it funny in a bad way. This was too bad because it was looking to be a movie I would love. Even so, there is enough here that I really liked. If you love your slasher films, Stirring is worth checking out. I hope you will be able to find it once it does get a wider release.
3 out of 5 Death by a large candycane was great
