REVIEW | Dude Bro Party Massacre III | Revelation Film Festival

Dude Bro Party Massacre III (hereafter DBPM3) is a parody of the innumerable, disposable slasher flicks that dominated the 80s complete with cheap and nasty gore, dumb and one-dimensional victims, an unstoppable killing machine, and a lake house setting.

Like a good parody it looks and feels like the real deal. The conceit of this film’s existence is that it’s the last VCR copy, stolen from some teenager in Minneapolis who recorded it on TV one night, so naturally the film is interspersed with fake late night ads. It looks uncannily like a VCR recording, too – shitty, dull, crusty. That’s the point. DBPM3 is seemingly beyond conventional criticism. You either find this kind of thing funny or you don’t. I think it worked most of the time.

DPM3 has the good sense to resist being smug or meta about its subject matter. That is until one scene where that particular brand of humour is used amazingly and so it’s easily the most memorable joke. The rest fly at you with rapid succession and are hit and miss, but mostly hit, even if the hits are sometimes little taps. There’s eight writers and three directors (Tomm Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, John Salmon) credited to this deranged affair, so this is a clear case of creators throwing shit at a wall and hoping some of it sticks.

The plot, as if it matters, is that after two college fraternity massacres perpetrated by the evil Motherface (Olivia Taylor Dudley), loner Brent Chirino (Alec Owen) infiltrates the fraternity to find some clues so he can avenge the death of his brother Brock, who has died at the hands of Motherface 2.0. He successfully infiltrates the bro fraternity, but unfortunately the Dean (Nina Hartley) insists they take their parties elsewhere as their pranks have gotten out of hand (pranks include accidentally destroying a dam and drowning an entire town, accidentally deposing a dictator in South America). But the lake house might not be a great place to party as Motherface 2.0 is on the loose. There’s a subplot concerning two police officers, with one convinced that the fraternity bros are bags of oranges.

Bags of oranges…sure, why not? Who cares?

It’s a good time, not a memorable one. If the title Dude Bro Party Massacre III evokes a chuckle, give it a look. If not, don’t.

RHYS TARLING