Parents' Guide to Blood Fest

This is a meta horror-comedy that practically prances through its many victims' entrails. Writer-director Owen Egerton looks to be having a whale of a time, including giving himself a plum acting role. He peppers Blood Fest with references to The Shining, Psycho, Saw, and others. The movie gleefully hits all the expected marks, complete with the obvious twists at the end, dancing on graves all the way. The practical effects department probably laughed itself silly with all the heads it had to prep for splitting and the guts it packed into bodies for yanking out.

The story is negligible (another genre cliché), but the dialogue is fun. Dax dislikes an actress because she knows nothing about the horror movies in which she's appearing: "She thought Black Christmas was a Tyler Perry movie. She wouldn't see Seven because she hadn't seen the first six." The detailed backstory of one of the favorite film slashers in this world includes that he was "raised by the trees." The token virgin is asked, "You've never been with a woman?" He replies, "Not in person, no." The acting suits the material, with Batalon bringing the good-buddy vibes he cultivated in Spider-Man: Homecoming. There are pigs with chainsaws (and bodies ripe for the chainsawin'), killer clowns, Romero zombies, sexy vampires -- the whole shot. There's even a totally random celebrity cameo. Horror fans should find Blood Fest a very, very bloody good time.