Straight Edge Kegger

Straight up sucked! Dumb premise. Relied heavily on appearance of bands. The music was great. It was really hard to sit 80 minutes till the end. After a good night of short horror films, this movie started. And alot of people got up and left.

The contradiction inherent in the title of this film hints at the cleverness of writer/director Jason Zink. As someone who enjoys horror and is fascinated by "punk" culture, and as someone who strongly appreciates a story about identity crisis, I knew I was in for a treat within the first few minutes of this film. The opening scenes at the concert (and outside the venue) are some of the strongest in the film, though when things devolve into violent madness near the film's end, the tension is effective and stays strong throughout the movie's climax. I think Jason Zink is definitely a director to watch and I can't wait to see what he could accomplish with a larger budget.

Exactly the type of premise my buddies and I would have come up at 3am, and a few cases in. Somewhat clever winks and nods to the real subculture that I got a chuckle out of. But after the initial 20 or so minutes, the nostalgia really started to wear off. After that you start to question almost all the stylistic choices and tone of the movie. I couldn't help but to just wonder, "Why"? Almost an impossible movie to settle into. They couldn't even get the continuity of the color of blood right. It was hard not to pick apart.

Shout out to the actor that played the laidback, but possibly alcoholic hardcore "kid" though. He was alright, and had a nice Bane tee.

My cinematic standards are pretty low: I can forgive less than stellar acting; I take great joy in non-sensical plots; I even find there's a certain charm to low-budget effects and filming techniques. What I can't forgive though is being boring, and unfortunately Straight Edge Kegger commits this most unforgivable of sins.

The film is only 75 minutes, but the first 40 of those are spent on an overly drawn-out setup. The second half is where the action starts, but surprisingly even then it all still feels like a slog. I found myself constantly checking to see how much longer I had left to watch.

For a film about punk, the plot and action also feel maddeningly mainstream. It feels restrained, conservative even. I got the sense that the film thought it was being really balls-to-the-wall, but I felt it never truly committed. I wish they had just gone for it, even if ended up as a complete failure. Interesting failures are at least memorable. Right now though the film stands in this awkward middle ground: too low budget to be an effective normal horror film, while also far too normal to be an underground gem.

I hate dunking on a smaller production like this. Just getting a film to screen deserves commendation, all the more so if that film is reasonably competently made like this one is. However I just can't really recommend Straight Edge Kegger. It feels far too long even with it's short runtime, and ultimately does not capture any of the punk spirit.

Go watch Green Room, and then follow it up with the rest of Jeremy Saulnier's filmography if you want to see exactly what this movie was attempting.