An Ideal Host

Liz and Jackson are planning the perfect party for a select group of friends, to allow them to break the news of their up and coming wedding. However there's an unwanted guest on the way from their past, who has decided to make an appearance, and who may well derail the whole thing, in a most unexpected manner. This is a great black comedy, with a sharp script that neatly uses the confines of the dinner party to tease out the past secrets and hidden resentments from the guests. With the wine flowing the carefully planned evening slow decent into bitter backbiting escalates in unexpected ways and an unexpected anarchic element to the film that just makes it so much fun. Full credit goes to the entire cast who create such a wonderful chemistry between them all, but especially credit to Nadia Collins as Liz who has to witness her carefully laid plans slowly unfold, but not let things get the better of her.

This movie was FUN, from start to finish, in a variety of ways. I dont know about you, but thats the main reason that I watch a film. It started off like it was going to be a quirky rom-com(I knew it was a horror movie going in), and genuinely made me laugh out loud several times. The quirky "everything that can go wrong" style of humor seemed like it was going to go down one horror path and then completely took me by surprise by the direction it actually went. It maintained the humor through the second act while spinning a mystery, setting up the stakes, and dipping a toe firmly into a certain style or horror, while remaining light and fun. The final act then got BRUTAL. I was not ready for it given the light tone it had taken to that point, but I loved it. It went for it in a way that many bigger budget films should study and take notes on. The more blind you can go into this, the better off you will be.

This is a legitimately fun little low budget Australian indie horror comedy. The microbudget is used well and while some of the effects show the limitations of what they were working with, that's really about all that does.

The opening, while very much comedic, set such a good stage about something being decidedly wrong about the main couple, Liz and Jackson, and their relationship beyond their obvious superficiality that I expected the nature of the horror reveal to be something entirely different than what it ended up being, even if it was honestly fairly telegraphed in retrospect. The script is smarter than I'd expected as well, and the cast does really well with the material. No intended shade to the Australian horror comedy tradition, but most of the ones I've seen previously seemed to be trying too hard to be early Peter Jackson to bother actually being well made, interesting, or even attempt anything of their own, so I'd not had the highest hopes for this movie to be different. Happily, that was not the case here at all.

Take a chance on this one if you like quirky little character-driven indie comedies alongside your dose of over the top splatter. The latter reminded me a bit more of a slightly more grounded Evil Dead approach than early Jackson or really even later Raimi - gory and at not intended to always be entirely realistic, but not necessarily fully goofy and goopy.

An Aussie Indy film, small budget, small cast, but it is neither deserving a highly rated score, nor bottom of the barrel ones. And it is best viewed without knowing anything about the movie. Liz and Jackson are planning a dinner party with their close friends, and are practicing their marriage proposal, as they want it just right. And after 10 years together, they decided it was the right time. Liz is one to want things perfect, and she has everything timed to the minute, from when the 'good' wine will be served to when dessert will be served. She gets up the next morning ready to set the table, but she has a problem deciding on the theme. And no one can possibly have as many different dinner sets as she has to go along with different decor themes. But there is a wrinkle, in that Daisy, who was not invited, is coming along with some other guests. Daisy is known as prone to drinking, and an overall disruptive force. Daisy arrives, and naturally starts to interfere with Liz's tight schedule. She immediately searches out the 'good' wine, not the regular wine before dinner Liz wanted to serve. And Mara, invited, can't help but keep reminding everyone she just got back from Bali. So there are plenty of conflicts, open and simmering that could upset the tight schedule Liz has set for the dinner. About 2/3 through the movie, there is an unexpected twist that no one could expect, and sends the movie in a much different direction. I don't think this is the strongest part of the movie.

I started watching this based on its high reviews. Then I came to the reviews in the middle of watching it and noticed how the reviews were mostly thumbs down. I see why and that's why it's important to have the thumb down feature. I'm a big fan of comedy and craziness, but this movie is no good. Maybe it's because I'm not Australian but I don't find any of this movie funny or entertaining in any way. The acting is not good and everything is forced. It's like some kind of improv theater group. And as the audience, I don't care about any of the people and I don't care that the party is not going as planned. The music is pretty decent, though.