Blood Fest (2018) User Reviews

Entertainingly silly splatter meta movie

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 24 June 2018]

Blood Fest is a horror-comedy which can be filed under the meta movie bracket. It unashamedly wears its influences on its sleeves and it is an unpretentious celebration of the horror genre. The man behind it is writer/director/actor Owen Egerton who plays the circus ringleader here. The story is very simple. A horror-obsessed teenager goes along to a new horror-themed festival called Blood Fest with his two pals. When there, it becomes quickly apparent that the horror is real and the attendees become the prey of the killers who run the place.

The set-up of the movie is basically a neat way to allow for the inclusion of a variety of horror tropes and situations. To this end we have chainsaw killers, killer clowns, a hillbilly psycho, sexy vampires, marauding zombies and torture sadism; with nods to all manner of movies including The Wizard of Gore (1970), The Evil Dead (1981), Ring (1998), Saw (2004), etc. It is quite a lot of silly fun and pretty amusing quite a bit of the time too with some funny lines, i.e. 'your mother was killed by horror'. What it ultimately is, though, is a gore-fest with knowing nods to the genre and as such will make for somewhat entertaining viewing for horror fans.

Good, up to a point.

[mrem-96149 · 6/10 · 14 April 2019]

I was really enjoying this film. It's entertaining and a cool premise. The group of characters were likable. It was a good movie...until it wasn't. The plot twist really kind of ruined the movie. The dad was a bad character. I couldn't understand what he was trying to do. He was super overprotective of his son, but apparently he was ok with his daughter murdering people, and why wasn't the son in on it? There's also a scene at the end when the dad says the host will take all of the credit for it, and then he shoots him a minute later (even though he apparently survives). The entire climax is messy and really hurt what was looking to be a fun and enjoyable horror comedy. Advice for anyone watching it for the first time, end the movie when the dad enters comes through the door. Pretend like he is there to drive everyone to safety and the movie is over. It would probably be more satisfying then the actual ending. Overall, I enjoyed it and would watch a sequel if they ever make one.

Kinda cheesy but it also worked ,, and least to say i didn't hate it ;)

[Aktham_Tashtush · 6/10 · 11 November 2018]

So the plot of the movie might have some originality but still wasn't as strong as i thought it would be .. and kinda lacked the element of unpredictability ,,with that been said ,, it was fun at times ,, had more than a couple of enjoyable giggly scenes and the graphics and cinematography were not bad at all ,, apparently with lots of movies being made annually these technicality are becoming affordable.

Cast wise,, it was good,, I knew Robbie Kay from ABC's Once Upon a Time ,, and he was amazing there ,, and here he did a really good job,, he got the talent indeed.. Jacob Batalon from "Spider-Man: Homecoming" was also funny and he delivered,, and the whole cast in general did good.

Overall,, the movie is one of these cheesy movie and probably low budgeted one ,, but i kinda different in away and i enjoyed it .. so Recommended.

Could've Been Better!

[gwnightscream · 4/10 · 6 January 2019]

This 2018 horror comedy begins with a boy, Dax witnessing his mother's murder and years later he is a horror fanatic hoping to attend a horror festival, "Blood Fest" with his friends, Sam and Krill. Things start ok, but soon things actually get bloody when most of the fans/attendees start getting murdered for real. Dax and his friends try to survive against zombies, psychotic clowns and other obstacles. The film's director, Owen Egerton is also featured as Walsh, the diabolical host of Blood Fest who wants to make the ultimate horror film. This starts off pretty good, but starts to fall a little flat and could've been better. It does have great make-up effects and pays tribute yet pokes fun at films like, "Saw," "Friday the 13th" and "Cabin in the Woods." You could give this a try if you're into the horror genre.

Enjoyed!

[f-cobb · 7/10 · 7 April 2019]

I'm a horror fan and have spent years watching many, many films.

The storyline may be somewhat predictable. It's a horror film. People are likely to die. There may be love interests or friendships.

Special effects. Hmmnn. Not so special at times. Often anatomically incorrected but the title is Blood Fest and jugular artery style squirting should accompany any cut -Wherever that may be.

Is it watchable? Can you relate to the characters? Interesting storyline? Gore? YES!

This is a comedy horror. I don't know what films other reviewers are comparing it with.

Enjoy it for what it is.

Fantastic premise, messy at times (and not in the way we wanted)

[kittykatwilson · 5/10 · 18 August 2018]

I went into watching this expecting The Purge crossed with Cabin in the Woods, with the classic humour and twists that Rooster Teeth has delivered up to now with Lazer Team 1 and 2. It wasn't not enjoyable, don't get me wrong, some of the tropes were funny and offered a laugh out loud moment, but others were just cringe-worthy, and not in the way we wanted. Some of the effects were clunky, with some of the acting even clunkier.

They had an idea, and ran with it, but feel that they stumbled and possibly left limbs around, and should have stopped and regrouped.

Alright, but not a reflection of what everyone involved is capable of.

Trapped

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 10 May 2019]

Predictable and filled with cliches, but still somewhat entertaining overall. This has some nice effects (it is violent as the title does suggest, though there are other movies out there with a bigger amount/volume of blood flowing) and the characters while almost cardboard cutouts are being played with some gusto that makes you almost that fact.

This is not a great movie or a classic or whatever but it is here to entertain you and also tries on some morals (especially towards the end). Having said all that, it is just beyond making sense, so don't try to even think about character motivation and whatnot. Watch it without any single thought and you may be entertained, otherwise it might come close to a waste of time

The kids were awesome...the movie? Not so much.

[manuelasaez · 4/10 · 5 September 2018]

I was so looking forward to this movie after seeing such entertaining films as "HellHouse LLC" and "Escape Room", but this movie was just a huge waste of potential. Riddled with low budget and low effort special effects, this really came off as a student project of some sort, and nothing looked realistic enougfh to be considered "scary". Everything looked obviously fake, so much so that, you could easily see where the actors were replaced with mannequins and it just ruined the entire film for me. The script was asinine, the adult actors were hammy and horribly untalented, and the movie is only fun when the kids are around. It's just so unfortunate.

But man, those kids were so talented, so dynamic, so convincing. I was so impressed by the 3 child leads and their ability to carry the film on their own. They took a garbage script and worked with it, and pulled out all of the stop to convince the audience that they cared. The young girl, specifically, has such a bright future ahead of her with those acting chops. It's like she was born to be on camera. My favorite character, the young Filipino boy, really made me smile every time he showed up. Such a lovable and entertaining character.

This movie was a huge wasted potential; what could have been an entertaining film full of carnage turned out to be a sophomiric romp were the kids outshined the adult actors every step of the way. It almost makes you wonder how much more entertaining teh film might have been if they had hired adult actors that could actually act? Boggles the mind.

Don't see this movie if you lack patience for crappy acting. It's not teh worst hour and half you could spend watching a movie, but when that in itself is a compliment, you know that the movie really isn't meant for anyone.

Horror fan

[luckygal-11404 · 6/10 · 9 August 2019]

I'm almost 30 years old, and I'm one of the biggest horror fans I know, plus I know good movies in my personal opinion I am what people have told me and life karma and I have to say this is a fine horror film if you like B Horror films. Yes it's predictable, and it's a little ridiculous, but it's also enjoyable and is kind of a cheesy light hearted nod to horror fans and I enjoyed it. Definitely say here a horror fan give it a shot, you won't be disappointed necessarily just entertained when you are waiting for your next horror movie to come out on DVD or in theaters watch this for some fun.

Those silly kids and their darn meta-horror!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 8 March 2021]

Your truly is an old-school horror fanatic, and the concept of meta-horror ranks extremely high on my personal list of most irritating cinematic trends ever. Sometimes, very exceptionally, it's used in a creative fashion ("Man Bites Dog", "The Cabin in the Woods", "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon") but far more frequently it just comes across as pretentious and pseudo-intelligent. "Blood Fest" is the most embarrassing meta-horror film I've seen thus far, though. A slasher about surviving a pre-organized massacre by following the clichéd rules of classic slashers. Seriously? How many times has that been done before? Wes Craven centered his whole "Scream" franchise around this exact same gimmick, and even those films are massively overrated. But hey, writer/director Owen Egerton clearly thought his own script was brilliant, because he even depicts the "arrogant horror mastermind" himself. "Blood Fest" does contain some good gore and a handful of atmospheric moments (notably the clown gathering and the creepy dolls in the movie theater), so maybe there's hope that Egerton has it in him to make a half-decent "real" horror movie one day. You may now proceed to vote this comment as "non-useful" because I'm old, whiny and without sense of humor.

I've never written a review before ever

[usanatiffany-29536 · 8/10 · 6 March 2022]

This was a campy good time. I watch waaaay too many horror movies anD let me tell you 95% of horror movies SUCK!!! But yet I still continue watching them just to find SOMETHING that resembles a good horror feeling from when I was 8 years old in the 80s watching a good horror flick I rented from blockbuster ( my parents were cool letting me watch such things, I always, ALWAYS made my way to the horror section and still do after seeing "Aliens" my favorite movie ever) or on Cable. It's A cross between Cabin in the Woods and Saw. Definitely more "Cabin in the Woods" without the awesome ending. The only gripe I have is the father... terrible acting. He almost ruined the whole the thing for me. Terrible terrible casting for the father. All around good horror comedy minus the father.

Fantastic crap, with mild spoilers.

[KOOLAIDBRO · 7/10 · 9 March 2020]

Craptastic in every way. Likeable characters trapped in a festival where stupidity ensues. Zombies, a slasher that kills on Arbor day called the Arborist, Saw shoutout, on and on. They try to make it believable which is so stupid it's hilarious. Look this isn't The Piano or some movie that movie critics drool all over themselves while watching. This is everything they hate and people like me laugh at so bad it's good movies. I actually am writing this upon my second viewing after watching it over a year ago and I still laughed and had a good time with it. So if you like entertaining well made B movies? Watch and laugh. If you don't? Why the hell are you watching this? Why would you rate and review it? Lot of negative ratings and reviews by people that I'm reading here saying that "this person likes musicals or artistic flicks that put me into a coma". I don't rate and review La La Land that I'd give a negative 10 if it were possible. That's not my taste so I'm not gonna bag it in the review section. Basically if you love La La Land or the English Patient or something like that? No. Don't watch this. If you laughed at and enjoyed Return of the Living Dead, Maximum Overdrive etc.? Watch and have fun.

Lacks a bit of everything

[rubengr1984 · 4/10 · 27 January 2021]

It's not an awful horror, but that's it, overall it's on the mediocre side. The characters aren't that great or developed and they're all a bit stereotypical, you know what you'll get once they are presented. The actors itself do their best, they're not great but at least it's not bad acting like you see in other low budget horror. The effects are sort of nice, there's some gore here and there, wouldn't have minded more though. Can't really say there's much build or tension, it's all in your face, no subtlety at all. Basically it's 90 minutes of an uninspiring meta horror, there's better self aware horror out there.

Tries to get clever but plot is ridiculous

[jon_anderson77 · 4/10 · 3 September 2018]

This movie failed on quite a lot of levels. The special effects at times are cheap, the dialogue is horrible and the acting not much better. The comedy and dialogue feels like something you'd find in a late 90s nickelodeon show for teens but the violence is pretty extreme and the two do not compliment each other at all. We are expected to believe that a kid who saw his mother killed by an escaped mental patient grew up to be a horror movie fanatic who's bedroom is covered in horror memorabilia. Ridiculous. The writer / director is actually the worst thing in this movie. He cannot act and the fact he put himself in the movie shows what a narcisist he must be. His absence from the movie would have improved it a lot as whenever he was on screen with his minions I felt like I was watching an episode of the power rangers. With a fair bit of tweaking this could have been something special but sadly it's a horrible mess with ludicrous storyline. The zombie and vampire explanations being by the worst. The reason I didn't score this lower is that the makeup effects are actually pretty decent.

Enjoyable movie. Shows growth from Rooster Teeth

[angusiv · 6/10 · 7 August 2019]

A fun movie to watch. The story was easy to digest and most of the acting was believable. I was skeptical to see this after the trash Lazer Team was but they proved me wrong. It's light faire but truly fun to see.

Even if you have time to waste, stay away

[gemini58 · 3/10 · 1 September 2018]

One of those movies that steals your precious time that you can never get back. One review compared it to Cabin in the Woods. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I'm being generous with the 3rd star. Bad acting. Terrible. This is NOT a horror movie. If they spent $10k making it, that $9.99k too much

Solid horror film

[dar0417 · 7/10 · 14 February 2020]

Solid horror film with enough blood to keep you entertained for the 90 min.

A teen waste of time

[mjsreg · 4/10 · 2 September 2018]

This movie is nothing really. It isn't interesting, there isn't much of a story, and worst of all it isn't funny.

It is a run of never ending drab and meaningless false 'comedy' that is embarrassing to say the least.

The story concept is good, but it is so bland and commercial it gets lost in a mire of gooey nothingness.

Fun meta genre flick

[Lazyboy42 · 7/10 · 27 December 2020]

This is better than a 5. It was very fun, and didn't take itself serious. Saw around the same time as HellFest and this is waay better, but that has a higher score.

Horrible

[chaplinman13 · 3/10 · 2 September 2018]

The acting is beyond bad right from the beginning. I kept wondering if it was a commercial within the movie. It wasn't. It definitely has major potential, but it failed big time. Such a disappointment as it could have been awesome. Zachary Levi's cameo was lame. The few movie references were cool, but short lived (Friday the 13th, Saw, Evil Dead). The ending was really bad! Glad I didn't pay money to watch this.

Nice gory gruesome horror, definitely not as bad as others say!

[UniqueParticle · 8/10 · 10 June 2019]

Awesome entertainment for what it is especially being a fan of Rooster Teeth awhile ago although the Rage Quit videos and guides were my favorite! Sure there's super dumb stuff in it but it's really cool kinda like "The Condemned" except instead of an action death movie it's full on horror. Barely a comedy though, I don't know why that's part of the genres.

like the initial premise

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 17 July 2022]

Dax Conway (Robbie Kay), Krill (Jacob Batalon), and Sam (Seychelle Gabriel) are best friends and horror fans. They have tickets to the upcoming Blood Fest but Dax's father (Tate Donovan) throws them away. Dax's mother was killed by the father's disturbed patient and the father is a public advocate against horror films. The three friends ask their clueless aspiring actress friend Ashley for new tickets. As the event unfolds, it's revealed that this is more than fake killings.

I like the initial premise although I would prefer not to deal with the rules of horror. There is no point to Scream this. It's over two decades too late. If it wants to copy anyone, it should copy Cabin in the Woods. The father's role is obvious and that's why it needs to spice him up. He could be a warlock cult leader who uses his patients as sacrifices. As for the three young leads, I like all of them. It may be the Spiderman afterglow but Batalon is fun actor. This is a fun premise but more could be done to make this crazier and wilder.

I had low expectations and unfortunatly this film still failed to meet them.

[markcrook-97111 · 1/10 · 3 September 2018]

After watching the previous attempts at films from Rooster Teeth i had low expectations for this one but it still failed to meet them. Shortly after the film began i realised that the story i had thought would be good was actually that of the similarly named Hell fest and the story for Blood Fest is actually much worse.

It quickly becomes apparent that the story is nothing more than 5 characters trying to survive an immense number of killers, that's it. There's nothing clever or interesting and most criminally there's nothing funny either.

I think the most damning thing about this film is that it's clearly had too much spent on it to be a really cheesy, laughably bad student film or similar but also hasn't had nearly enough money or skill put into it to make a genuinely good film.

For a horror comedy it fails at both, even the cameo's from RT staff just felt out of place and shoved in just to appease fans with most of them all happening within a minuet.

The one thing i will say is that while the writing isn't the best, it's a pleasant surprise to see that Barbara Dunkelman is one of the bright points in the film proving herself to be a far better actor than any of the other RT staff who have had roles in previous RT fans or this on, and at points she actually comes close to generating some laughs.

One of the most confusing parts of the film is the way they somehow managed to make Adam Ellis, who plays one of the killers in the film, somehow seem less scary or menacing than he does in real life, which is hard given his reputation of being a "gentle giant" but they managed it somehow.

I'm sure the hardcore RT fans will claim it's a masterpiece as they have with previous RT films and nothing anyone can say will convince them otherwise, but unless you are one of those people who believe RT only makes pure gold i would beg you to not waste your time on this film, it really has nothing to offer in terms of entertainment.

Fun for friday night, nothing more

[Gunnar_R_Ingibjargarson · 4/10 · 13 February 2019]

A group of friends goes to a horror-fan fest, but soon is obvious it's for a much more sinister reason. Blood Fest is a poorly made horror film, made for certain fangroup that will like this, the rest, not so much.

Better than expected

[atexun04 · 7/10 · 28 October 2020]

So I think I've watched 95% of all horror movies ever made in my 46 years. Nothing really gets me excited anymore with horror movies and I rarely can watch the new movies til the end...they are that bad. This movie was a hidden gem. Not groundbreaking horror or anything but it kept my interest the entire movie. Worth the watch if you're like me and looking for something interesting cause you've already seen it all.