Director(s) – Tomm Jacobsen (UpRoxx Video, 5-Second Films), Michael Rousselet (Uproxx Video, Birnkrant 616), and Jon Salmon (The Horn, Jeremy)
Starring – Alec Owen (Video Game High School, Vampire Vampire Vampire Vampire), Ben Gigli (Star Wars Speed Dating, Happy Endings), and Olivia Taylor Dudley (Chernobyl Diaries, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)
Release Date – 2015
Tagline – “Don’t let a bro see it alone”
It’s no secret that I love slashers. I don’t mind the meta-slashers from the 90s or the throwback slashers from recent years but I prefer the golden age of slashers. I’ve seen my fair share of throwbacks over the years but very few really capture that 80s slasher vibe.
Sometime ago I ordered the 2015 horror comedy Dude Bro Party Massacre III from Scream Team Releasing. The blu was a killer price and I couldn’t pass it up. This is one I’ve had on my radar for sometime and I couldn’t leave empty handed. While I was having the Scream Team marathon I decided this one would round out my viewing experience.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows Brock (Owen) who is speaking with the school counselor about the murders at his frat house he witnessed. On two separate occasions a woman in a mask known as Motherface killed his frat brothers and he was forced to stop them. What he doesn’t know is that the mother and daughter masquerading as Motherface was not the only one. There is a sister still on the loose and she is pretending to be a school counselor. She kills Brock and his twin brother Brent (Owen) changes schools to go to Brock’s college and joins his frat to investigate his murder. The frat gets suspended from the college when a prank goes wrong killing thousands of people so they retreat to a cabin in the woods. Motherface follows and one by one the bodies pile up until Brent finally figures out who the real killer is.**Spoiler Alert**
I heard a lot of mixed things about this one. Horror friends on social media told me this one was amazing but a few of my close friends told me this one was a bit of a burner with stupid humor. I love stupid horror movies so Dude Bro looked like a movie I would love…and it was.
The acting in this one is fucking perfect for the over the top parody of classic slashers. The cast was tasked with bringing parodies of cliched slasher characters to life and they did an outstanding job. They perfectly mock the characters you would typically find in 80s slashers and they do a marvelous job with it. It looks like they were having fun on set and that fun transferred to the screen. It was also cool to see a few faces from Video Game High School in the mix. That show is extremely underrated and its nice to see some of the cast in other films.
The story for this one fully submerges itself in slasher clichés and the classic slasher formula of being wronged and seeking revenge. With that being said, it turns the humor up to 11. The humor in this finds its mark perfectly. Sometimes it comes in the form of mocking television broadcasts in the 80s and other times it mocking slashers. I loved the sense of humor in this one and it works very well for the film we get. As for the story, it’s not about who the killer but how the killer will kill next. The film focuses a lot on the kills and the character’s reactions to said kills. I really liked that aspect especially for a parody.
Finally, the kills in this one are unforgettable and highly entertaining. The kills are given work for the parody angle of the film but they also deliver some great practical effects and gore. I’ll be honest, I was not expecting this one to be a bloody and gory as it was. The effects look great and some of the gags are funny but the gore is top notch. Overall, Dude Bro Party Massacre III is everything I want in a slasher or a horror film in general. The laughs hit hard but the gore hits harder. Check it out.
