‘The Final Party’ VOD Review
Stars: David Christian, Elia Berthoud, Arya Shahbazy, Adem Yilmaz, Michelle Deniz Rinehart, Arneta Liberyte, Anthony Tran, Kaan Ylimaz | Written and Directed by Bilal Kalyoncu
Bilal Kalyoncu, writer of the recently released Quarantine-19, also heads behind the camera for US-lensed quasi-slasher movie The Final Party, which sees outcast Alex (David Christian) and his friends set out to graduate on a high, at the biggest event of the school year, the titular final party. What starts out as harmless fun soon takes a terrifying turn when bully Andre and his crazed crew tie up the partygoers, submitting them to a killer card game with deadly consequences.
Have we accidentally wandered into Turkey’s answer to Proportion/Jagged Edge Productions? Because the signs are all there. Bilal Kalyoncu co-wrote Quarantine-19, which also opened with the same “Lost Street View Cinema” logo; both films star Adem Yilmaz, Kaan Yilmaz and Michelle Deniz Rinehart; and the whole thing has the same “tight-knit film clique” energy Scott Chambers built with his productions. As for the production values… sure, The Final Party looks like it had a few extra pennies tossed its way, but it still carries the same awkward, stilted vibe as Quarantine-19. Painfully so.
Though the awkward tone practically screams “language barrier.” It’s Turkish filmmakers trying to nail an American aesthetic with a global cast, and the translation just doesn’t land. Add in inspiration that feels several decades out of date — tropes, clichés, soundtrack, and all – and the whole thing ends up feeling like a horror movie got fed through Google Translate.
And seriously, what is with that soundtrack? The whole thing kicks off with a godawful “Whiskey in the Jar” cover that feels like a Turkish bar band trying to sound American, but also trying on an emo wig they found in a charity shop. It’s the kind of musical choice that makes you question every decision that follows. Including the decision, during the scenes set at high school, to fill the empty gaps between the [weak] script with what sounds like a badly inspired version of Keith Forsey’s “I’m the Dude” from the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club.
Speaking of which, in the early going, writer/director Bilal Kalyoncu clearly thinks he’s crafting some kind of 80s-style teen drama, complete with the class-clash vibes John Hughes mastered. But he doesn’t. Not even close. It’s a swing and an almighty miss. What he does nail though, is the fact that the cast of teens clearly aren’t, which echoes a lot of teen and horror movies of the 80s… So two thumbs top for that at least!
When the horror finally shows up, it’s obvious Kalyoncu has watched The Last House on the Left and House on the Edge of the Park a few too many times – everything plays like an imitation of those grindhouse staples. But to be fair, there’s a genuinely nasty streak in the violence that does lift the back half above the slog that precedes it. He even tosses in motivational flashbacks for the killers, though they’re so melodramatically overcooked they almost count as comedy.
And that’s the fatal flaw of The Final Party: it’s simply too stilted to scare and far too unintentionally “funny” to be fearful, leaving it stranded between tones it can’t pull off.
** 2/5
The Final Party is on digital 1 December from Trinity Content Partners
