Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)

MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Dude Bro Party Massacre III • Year: 2015 • Country: USA • Director: Tomm Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, Jon Salmon • Main cast: Alec Owen, Ben Gigli, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jimmy Wong, Kelsey Gunn • Runtime: 91 minutes • Production company: 5-Second Films, Snoot Entertainment, Cranked Up Films (distributors of the 2023 release) • TRAILER

A global view when you face commenting on a movie like Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) is that they made it. Like this, in capitals, THEY MADE IT. Did they want to make a satire of the 1980s silly oversexualized and kind of misogynist slasher films? They did. Did they want to make a stupid movie filled with ridiculous characters, situations, and conversations, and yet don’t embarrass others with the cringe? Not only that is a mission accomplished but there are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Did they want to set a new record for most kills in a slasher film? They got close there, I think the record is still held by The Summer of Massacre (2012) with a body count of 155, but almost. Was this a project from a group of friends that just wanted to have fun all drenched in blood? It sure is!

The movie is the perfect hybrid of the college silly comedies, with all the pranks and the pledges, with the cabin-in-the-woods gory slashers with a disfigured maniac hunting a bunch of promiscuous youngsters, and always having present that this is not a trip to take very serious, this is an absurd divertimento. And it really works. The status of an instant cult classic fits perfectly with Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015), from the first instances of the movie until the very end.

The plot is already idiotic enough. This is supposed to be the third entry in a horror trilogy from the 1980s whose original reels and copies got lost and the only thing that is left is this version, videotaped by someone from the TV broadcasting, including the commercial breaks (all fake and dumb, of course) and the bad quality from the VHS transfers. In the first movie, it was the mother who was hunting the kids, but they managed to kill her. In the second movie, it was the mother’s daughter who went after the survivors, wearing as a mask the skin of her dead mother, and calling herself Motherface. No chance for a doubt this storyline is a spoof of Friday the 13th (1980) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), probably the most iconic titles in the slasher subgenre. In the third film, the one we have in hands, Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015), a mysterious loner Brent Chirino must infiltrate the ranks of a popular fraternity to investigate his twin brother’s murder, killed with other by Motherface.

Of course, in terms of plot surprises, the strength of the film resides in how the filmmakers compile as many cliches as they can and put them all together, almost making no sense at all, with the clear intentions of making the dumbest story as possible. Extreme pranks gone wrong, a fraternity leader as thick as two short planks, the most incompetent cops, stupid drunk and irresponsible behaving, and the craziest absurd killings you can imagine are met here. And, it all is for our enjoyment.

To come out with a movie like Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) is not an easy task at all. The world of cinema, especially with comedies and horror movies, is plagued with parodies and so-called fun homages to all those classic films and cliches. Nothing and no one is safe from the wit of the filmmakers, sometimes with better results, sometimes becoming painful experiences to watch. But the level of achievement they got in Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) is bordering on pure perfection. It is a very stupid and silly movie made by very intelligent people, and they put all their cunning at the service of utter foolishness.

Another attraction from the movie, although I must say it’s a secondary one because the whole package is already attractive enough, is the celebrity cameos the filmmakers managed to add, with Primetime Emmy Awards winner Patton Oswalt, and Greg Sestero from The Room (2003) and The Disaster Artist (2017) having small roles, and the late popular journalist star Larry King, who allegedly always dreamt of having a stupid gory death in a horror film, and the hard-rock party musician Andrew W.K. in small appearances.

Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) originally came out in 2015 and became an instant underground cult classic, a fan favorite. It was created by 5-Second Films, an independent group of filmmakers who used media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr to publish their very short films, mostly with comedy content. And answering to the fanbase the movie has generated over the last years, a new release followed by a small theatrical North American tour including the screening of the film and Q&A with the cast and crew happened this past August. The film is now available on streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu, so you have no excuse.

And after publishing this review I think I’m going to watch it again. I really loved Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) J.

RATE: 7/10

IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3699692