(Minor Spoilers)

Indie horror can often be very hit or miss. It’s the one genre that tends to lend itself best to lower budgets, as an “independent” feel can often help create a sense of realism. Monster Party is one such film. It has its flaws, and feels amateurish here and there, but its overall concept and execution (pun very intended) are compelling and downright entertaining!

World’s Most Interesting Dinner Party

The film opens with a trio of thieves: Casper, Iris, and Dodge, as they make their living breaking into rich peoples’ houses and stealing their valuables. However they do so out of desperation, rather than greed. Iris is two months pregnant, while Casper’s father is in deep with loan sharks. The only way to solve all their financial hardships is to accept a gig serving food at an upscale dinner party, while scoping out the mansions and robbing it later. After they’re greeted by the host, Roxanne (Robin Tunney), everything seems to be going well, or so it seems.

As the guests gather, they reveal that each of them is plagued with addiction, but that with the help of their doctor/spiritual guru Milo (Lance Reddick), they’ve all been “sober” for a long time. While they’re enjoying the meal and the company, the three thieves go around the house and in an attempt to open the safe, accidentally trigger the house’s security system, locking them all inside. What follows is the revelation that this group of “addicts” are all in fact recovering serial killers. And as these events play out, their true nature begins to come out.

Home Invasion Reversed

Unlike typical home invasion films like The Strangers, Funny Games, or The Purge, Monster Party falls more in line with Don’t Breathe, as our protagonists attempt to escape a hostile environment filled with psychopaths. However, what makes it interesting is the fact that not all the guests are on board with killing them all. Some are much more eager to give in to their murderous urges, while others genuinely want to resists the temptation and maintain their sobriety. It also doesn’t help that Milo is clearly full of himself, and his arrogantly toned lessons and reprimands fall of deaf ears to the few people who wish to murder the would-be thieves.

It Works for What It Is

At times, the film can feel like it’s trying to be a music video. Especially when it uses slowly motion and electronic bass beats to create an overly stylized mood. But other than that, the characters are believable, the psychopaths range from subtle and creepy to over the top and hilarious. But the film very much knows what it is and owns it. It has fun with its premise and presents rather fascinating ideas. If a serial killer can go through a 12 step program, is there anything people can’t recover from?!

Monster Party is streaming exclusively on Shudder