We are back with more from our Fall Themed Horror Series. For people in the US, we are just over a week away from Thanksgiving. One thing you absolutely must have for thanksgiving is an enormous turkey. With that in mind, Knockout Horror is set to deliver as we review slasher movie Kristy.
Set at thanksgiving, I originally wanted this review to actually launch on the day itself. After watching the movie, however. I realised I simply couldn’t do that to you guys. This is a painfully average movie that simply doesn’t fit the bill. I even debated canning it altogether but I promised a bunch of fall themed horror movies. I didn’t say they would all be good.
Set on a university campus. Kristy, directed by Olly Blackburn, follows student Justine (Haley Bennett). Everyone is leaving for the holiday but Justine is forced to stay behind. Alone in a big, empty, college. Justine will have more to worry about than simply filling her moments of boredom. As a vicious group of killers lead by crazy girl Violet (Ashley Greene) are determined to make her life hell. Combining the slasher genre with revenge horror. Kristy, at the very least, fits the criteria of a Fall Themed horror. With that being said, let’s take a look.
A Slightly Different Slasher
Kristy is a little bit of a slasher and a little bit of a survival horror. Is that sort of a spoiler? I don’t think so. Justine is alone on campus. There aren’t exactly a whole bevy of potential victims. A simple read of the film’s description reveals that. The movie presents Justine as a girl attempting to survive against all odds. The group that are hunting her are, evidently, a merciless organisation. Motivated by the desire to kill someone named Kristy. There seems to be a somewhat ritualistic nature to these murders.
Kristy taps into the whole “dark web” phenomenon that has become so popular in the last 10 years. The group appear to be making snuff films and the movie plays on the idea of underground cults. Obviously Justine is not called Kristy so this motivation is somewhat unsatisfying. Used for an “oh shit!” moment of realisation more than anything else. Slasher killers have never needed motives before so it is really not a big deal. All we need to know is that these are some bad dudes and Justine is in trouble.
Moving at a fairly rapid pace, it takes about 20 minutes for things to start going wrong for Justine. As with most slasher movies, once things get going they don’t let up. Expect tense moments, near misses, and a hell of a lot of running. The movie turns around a little at about the half way mark. In an attempt to subvert expectation, Kristy gets creative. Things switch up a bit and some unexpected things happen. It’s fairly interesting but, for the most part, standard slasher fare.
Holiday Scares and an Interesting Setting
Set at Thanksgiving, this is a very apt movie for our Fall Horror Movie feature. We have holiday references, pumpkin pie, and thanksgiving decorations hung on campus. The entire university has gone home for the holidays leaving Justine completely alone. Whether this is believable or not is up for debate. Apparently Justine is the only student poor enough to have to stay. Her boyfriend drives an expensive land rover but can’t sub her the money for a plane ticket? I guess he is okay with her spending the holiday in abject loneliness. Screw letting her come home with him for the weekend. She can rattle around in a massive university questioning her romantic decisions instead.
I think it is fair to say that this might be the first sign of Kristy coming undone. Would an entire campus leave during the holiday? I am not sure about that. It feels, to me, like the writer wanted a unique setup regardless of how believable that scenario is. It feels unlikely. Google seems to think it is unlikely too as I can’t find any real stories of this happening. Indeed, the sight of the entire university completely empty is a strange one. It’s an interesting setting, however, and works well for setting up tension and scares.
A Compelling Start
The abandoned university is an undeniably creepy venue for a horror movie. Completely alone, Justine bounces around the rooms. Lost in the tremendous space. She is almost relishing the novelty of her situation. Justine goes for jogs, skateboards in the empty hallways and swims alone in the massive pool. The flickering lights of the basement set up a quick visual scare but merely hint at what’s to come. Justine feels somewhat insignificant and very vulnerable. Olly Blackburn does a nice job of building a tense atmosphere.
It is a strong first quarter and does a great job of establishing tension. Tightly paced, the movie pulls you in with ease. Despite being full of promise. Sadly, the movie never manages to deliver on what it offers. It isn’t long before it breaks down into your bog standard, garden variety, slasher. Kristy falls foul of every typical problem faced by these genre movies. We also never get the tantalising pay off from the intriguing setting. In fact, it actually becomes something of an albatross.
Unrealised Potential
The potential offered by the first 20 minutes or so, unfortunately, quickly evaporates. The university, despite being a fascinating setting, leads to some painful plot holes. Aside from the aforementioned strangeness of the situation. There is tons of land surrounding it. There is no gate at the entrance to prevent someone entering or leaving on foot. A person could simply exit around the front car barrier if they wanted to. You know, for example, somebody who was being chased by a maniacal cult. Surely the surrounding town would be a better option? Are we really supposed to believe that Justine would prefer to stay on campus?
Scenes that should be scary are all too brief. The carefully established tension is incredibly fleeting. Justine is repeatedly placed into confined rooms that act almost like set pieces. Hide, move, hide move; it is painfully formulaic. Rapidly changing camera shots attempt to scare the viewer. Predictable and uninventive, they actually lead to eye rolling. Boring tropes persist throughout. There is almost an urgency to get through each encounter. For the majority of the movie, Kristy is almost a facsimile of every slasher movie ever made. You have seen this all before. A swerve ending tries hard to bring things back in and make it more interesting but it’s too little too late.
An Idiotic Protagonist
Kristy dives into the “dumb protagonist” trope with both feet. Justine, for most of the movie’s length, is horrifically stupid. She does the absolute wrong thing in nearly every situation. I know this is something of a tradition in slasher movies. There is a certain suspension of disbelief required to enjoy them. It seems to be turned up to a ridiculous degree here, however. It is one eye rolling decision after another.
Justine falls asleep in an easily accessible common room. This is seconds after relating her fear to her boyfriend. She absolutely refuses to ever lock a door. Even when she has a set of keys she just won’t do it. She backs herself into dangerous situations and rarely arms herself. Worst of all, she seems physically bound to the university grounds. It’s farcical. At least you will get a nice vocal chord workout as you scream about what a dunce she is.
It doesn’t help that Justine appears to be pursued by some omnipotent demigods. These mother fuckers legitimately teleport. It makes no sense. Universities are huge yet these people traverse it like they are floating. Speaking of floating, they never make any noise unless they want to. They sneak up on Justine as if they were following one step behind her. It pushes the typical slasher formula a bit too far. It’s hard to appreciate the tension. You know for a fact that, like Richard Marx, wherever Justine goes they will be right there waiting for her.
Acting is Generally Good
I’ve seen people really rave about Haley Bennett’s portrayal of Justine in this movie. I have to be honest, I don’t get it. Much like Nicole Munoz in Pyewacket, she rarely emotes. Bennett either has a blank expression or is crying. Again, I have to take screenshots for these reviews. It is far more difficult than it should be to find Bennett not pulling the same face. Her character doesn’t leave Bennett much to work with, though. She is beyond dumb and does the wrong thing in almost every situation purely to build tension. It doesn’t help that the gang are like an omnipresent group of super villains.
Ashley Greene as Violet is decent. She really puts her back into the moodiness of the role. I enjoyed the creepiness of her line delivery and thought she had the potential to be a scene stealer. Honestly, I would have been happy to see more of her. I wish we could have had a few extra scenes of Mathew St. Patrick as security guard Wayne. He showed bags of promise. James Ransone as groundskeeper Scott is, unfortunately, reduced to a disappointing bit part. Most of the characters are formulaic horror fodder and there is very little meat for the cast to chew on.
Disappointing Cinematography, Scripting and Sound Production
Cinematography is, frankly, a bit dull. Closely placed shots bounce around manically. It’s as though they are being filmed by a backpedaling Barney the Dinosaur. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio images look crisp and sharp. The majority of the framing, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The camera hovers around upper chest height for much of the film. This leads to some genuinely awkward moments. One scene, in particular, is noteworthy. The camera is placed so high it fails to capture Aaron reaching into his pocket. For a worrying second there it looks like he is about to whip out his knob in the middle of a car park.
There are some standout moments, though. I enjoyed some of the shots filmed underwater. There are also a few Mothman Prophecies-esque scenes while Justine is driving. These look okay. A few interesting parts here and there don’t make up for a generally uninspired picture. I doubt the movie will stay with you.
Scripting is bad. Lines feel stilted and awkward. Conversations between Justine and Aaron feel particularly unnatural. The sound production makes it seem as though the characters have a mic next to their mouths. Kissing scenes are sure to trigger anyone with misophonia so be warned. Justine and Aaron are one of those “you aren’t really kissing if people can’t hear it in the next room” types. All in all, it is just a boring, forgettable, and sometimes frustrating production.
Should You Watch Kristy?
Some people will probably enjoy Kristy’s simplistic slasher thrills and those people should definitely watch Kristy. If you are looking for something clever, tense, compelling, exhilarating and scary, you should probably give it a miss. The location is interesting but the writing is poor, the thrills predictable, the twists silly and the pacing very slow. This is a formulaic, dull, forgettable slasher.
