{"id":8423,"date":"2019-06-17T17:24:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T00:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=8423"},"modified":"2019-06-17T17:24:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T00:24:01","slug":"cinepocalypse-film-festival-ghost-killers-vs-bloody-mary-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/cinepocalypse-film-festival-ghost-killers-vs-bloody-mary-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinepocalypse Film Festival: &#8216;Ghost Killers Vs. Bloody Mary&#8217; Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fabr\u00edcio Bittar\u2018s <em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary <\/em>in a nutshell: vanilla-as-sin title, unexpectedly batshit paranormal warfare. \u201cSocial media influencer\u201d horror stories are a tough pitch given how vlogger energetics specifically tune into a particular millennial-to-Gen-Z crowd, but writers Andre Catarinacho and Danilo Gentili (alongside Bittar) skewer YouTube celebutante status as a means of entertainment. I\u2019ve been burned by too many <em>Smiley<\/em> or <em>Cam2Cam<\/em> digital horror duds, but <em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary<\/em> has more in common with \u201cfraudulent spectral detective\u201d howlers like <em>Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum<\/em>\u00a0and <em>Grave Encounters<\/em>&#8230;except with a heavier lean into goopy midnight comedy?<\/p>\n<p>What am I saying. <em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary<\/em> is the goriest, wackiest, most fiendishly fun Brazilian horror comedy you could want. Precisely the kind of midnighter I seek out \u2014 emphasis on literal mind-blowing effects, kitchen-sink storytelling, and incomparable graveyard craziness.<\/p>\n<p>The premise: The \u201cGhoulbusters\u201d face declining online viewership as their ghost-huntin&#8217; content can\u2019t keep up with internet trends. When T\u00falio\u2019s (Murilo Couto) butcher uncle is ready to evict them from his backroom office, a dream offer comes through. Director Nogueira (Sik\u00eara Junior) summons the undead investigators to Issac Newton High School, where \u201cCotton Girl\u201d &#8211; better known as \u201cBloody Mary\u201d &#8211; is suspected to be haunting bathroom mirrors. The \u2018Busters install projectors and dress T\u00falio as a blonde-haired spirit like their usual deceptive blueprints, but it\u2019s not long before Jack (Danilo Gentili), Fred (L\u00e9o Lins), and Caroline (Dani Calabresa) come face-to-face with their first real phantom foe. They&#8217;re ill-equipped and desperately need an exit ASAP.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IgG_ncWc3js?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary<\/em> makes its North American debut at this year\u2019s Cinepocalypse film festival with no U.S. distribution deal as of yet. Until some company hopefully grants the film its deserved theatrical run, here are three slop-covered reasons to smash the \u201cLike\u201d button on this hilarious schoolhouse massacre.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Every Scene Tries To Outdo The Last<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BZjI2ZDI2ZjMtNDljOC00MTNjLWJhNjctNzUwODBjNzZmY2NhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjEyNTM0OTE@._V1_.jpg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Horror films, spiritual haunts especially, run a risk of becoming repetitive as straightforward haunts don\u2019t vary much in execution. Dark hallways, jump scares, evilness appearing out of nowhere &#8211; you know the hits. But\u00a0<em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary<\/em> makes an early narrative choice that is a direct commentary on complacent horror, as each scene pushes further than the last. The Ghoulbusters are constantly challenged by forces that cannot be defined, contained, or predicted in the most surprising and rewarding ways. Continuity makes up rules on the fly, but you&#8217;re too busy cackling to care.<\/p>\n<p>Bittar\u2018s deadly lock-in is far more than just a simple ghost story. Bloody Mary can possess whoever or <em>whatever<\/em> she wants, which provokes creature influences reminiscent of Sam Raimi or <em>Gremlins<\/em>\u00a0into taunting foes and inflicting wounds with equal enthusiasm (a walking fetus may or may not shake its tush, for example). The gore honors head-splitting <em>Scanners<\/em> explosions, decapitations, and caked-on fluids that thicken atop characters\u2019 skin with a devotion to messiness not unlike<em> Dead Alive<\/em>. I can\u2019t oversell the disgustingness that crawls from a high school\u2019s bathroom toilet (uh, literally), but still, within all this over-the-top gore exists a paranormal architecture that honors traditional apparition haunts. It&#8217;s not typical for a \u201cghost story,\u201d and wholly applauded by someone like myself who thrives on extreme midnighter ambition yet still enjoys red-eyed demon children in an urban legend fright.<\/p>\n<h2>2. The Ghouls Know How To Have Fun<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BMTk1MGJlNGYtNzJmMS00MjlhLTkzOWYtNTAwYzAzZGUwYTI1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDAzNjkxMjQ@._V1_.jpg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"519\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Your mileage for <em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary<\/em> will vary based on your attraction to horror comedies. Sequences favor (admittedly often immature) humor much like <em>Ash Vs. Evil Dead<\/em> or <em>Todd &amp; The Book Of Pure Evil<\/em> over nerve-slashing genre dread. Gags include but aren\u2019t limited to: \u2018Busters debating the ethics of a \u201cBloody Mary threesome,\u201d self-aware dialogue from characters as if they were watching the movie, constant references to American pop culture, and slapstick bits of slipping in blood puddles or screaming like petrified babies at real ghosts. It\u2019s what happens when karmatic horrors confront ego-driven pretty boys and raunchy fakers, but works given the film\u2019s indulgent desire to punish the characters without remorse.<\/p>\n<p>There are instances where meta jokes become a bit much, such as a gym teacher who almost exclusively communicates by making fun of horror movies tropes before they occur on-screen. Horror and comedy are tough to balance. Luckily, the main \u2018Busters sell their stereotypical on-camera personas with charismatic mockery. There&#8217;s Caroline, the clairvoyant whose psychic powers of predicting phone calls inspire second-guesses on the regular. Next is Fred, the would-be-leader whose only traits are \u201cfearless\u201d machismo, first-person camera intros, and a chiseled jawline. Then there\u2019s Jack, the Dan Aykroyd of this \u201cGhoulbusters\u201d knockoff who sells reluctance, appropriate paranoia, and cut-rate hero imperfection as an imposter to underworld combat should. Throw in a student who ends up outed as the group\u2019s biggest online troll, \u201cLegendaryThanos,\u201d plus Puetra Quintela as &#8220;Caterina,&#8221; the summoned Bloody Mary, and you\u2019ve got a cast who can keep the momentum rolling when scripted zingers fall flat.<\/p>\n<h2>3. It Won&#8217;t Please Everyone But The Audience It Does Please? 110% In.<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BNjg0M2E5OTgtZWIyNS00YWRkLThiYzktMTYyODMwODBhN2Q1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDAzNjkxMjQ@._V1_.jpg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The very nature of <em>Ghost Killers vs. Bloody<\/em> Mary will divide horror audiences. You could make predictable drinking game rules like &#8220;Every time a famous horror property is referenced, drink,&#8221; while performances are intentionally dimwitted and overemotive. Fabr\u00edcio Bittar directs a horror comedy that works far more than it doesn\u2019t, but what does work for a juvenile nutjob like myself will likely go unappreciated by more &#8220;serious\u201d horror fans. It\u2019s not<em> Cabin In The Woods <\/em>or even\u00a0<em>Tucker &amp; Dale Vs. Evil<\/em>. It<em> is<\/em>, however, slathered in grossness and unpredictably gonzo to a relentless degree&#8230;which, I assure you, will please the right palates.<\/p>\n<p>Those on Team &#8220;Go For Broke&#8221; with me, let me tell you: <em>Ghost Killers Vs. Bloody Mary<\/em> is a certifiable wealth of genre riches. One minute severed heads smash through windows, the next a malicious monster with cotton swabs shoved up her nostrils is pushing through the gates to Hell in grimly unsettling slow motion. A telephone receiver vomits sanguine liquids, finger bones scrape into chalkboards, eyes are gouged out, tangled umbilical cords choke victims, a full-course feast reveals itself as a nauseating trick &#8211; and that&#8217;s only a taste of what awaits. The comedy earns laughs, the spectral haunts spike adrenaline, and both layers complement each other even when unbalanced. Call me easy to please, but <em>Bloody Mary<\/em>\u2019s possessive tortures are worth any 12am theater slot. Crack a beer and wash it all down the right way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fabr\u00edcio Bittar\u2018s Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary in a nutshell: vanilla-as-sin title, unexpectedly batshit paranormal warfare. \u201cSocial media influencer\u201d horror stories are a tough pitch given how vlogger energetics specifically tune into a particular millennial-to-Gen-Z crowd, but writers Andre Catarinacho and Danilo Gentili (alongside Bittar) skewer YouTube celebutante status as a means of entertainment. I\u2019ve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,52],"tags":[40,37],"class_list":["post-8423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-review","tag-featuredpage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8423"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8485,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423\/revisions\/8485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}