Saturday Morning Massacre (2012)

I love this movie so much

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

Blistering performances.

A small budget and restrictive shooting schedule did not prevent director Spencer Parsons from producing one of the classic dark comedy horror films. The humor is never heavy handed and always clever, allowing for a true tale of terror to coexist with the satire. The spoofery works beautifully but that does not mean there aren't moments of intense fear and unrelenting ghastliness. There is indeed graphic slaughter and violence as a group of young people fight for their very lives. As an audience we feel their unholy fear yet chuckle at some very sophisticated satire. Ashley Rae Spillers is particularly good and has an innocent quality that only accentuates a smoldering sexuality that's mesmerizing. She is magnetic and her scenes light up the screen. The entire cast is nothing less than superb and never lets on that they might be in on some of the bloody jokes. Overall, one of the most significant horror satires in the last ten years, masterfully made, and inspiringly realized.

Hired to investigate a supposedly-haunted abandoned schoolhouse, a group of paranormal investigators find the school is far more dangerous than they bargained for and must try to find the cause of the paranormal incidents to get out alive.This turned out to be quite the effective and entertaining parody effort while falling slightly short as a true stand-alone effort. Aping the TV show to it's fullest extent, right down to the set-up of the group and their relationships to each other, the continual use of finding bad guys in masks as the prime culprit and the same goofy humor throughout, even managing to bring a dog into the fray as a partner makes this one feel like a true homage yet it still manages to go in it's own separate path as the group manages to find an actual case of demons and satanic madness in their latest assignment, which proves far too much for them to handle and causing the middle section to be enormously entertaining with a series of sequences really amping up the terror and tension throughout. The sight of seeing them succumb to the actual torments and tortures inflicted upon them by the ghastly, creepy-looking demons and ghouls makes for some additional fun than expected due to the playing off the homage angle earlier and seeing the walls drip with blood-splatter, the group finally engaging in sleazier antics than usual and the entire actuality of the demonic origins of their protagonists is just endless fun due to incorporating this into the film. That said, without all that knowledge beforehand this does tend to follow the motions in just about every one of these haunted house investigation movies with the team not completely sold on the enterprise being what they think it is, they eventually get proved wrong when it turns out to be for real and must overcome the experience for the first time. It does grow a little thin to see it resorting to these clichés to keep going, but that's the way it goes here with this type of plot. It also really easily betrays it's low-budget roots quite often with a series of lame shots of the demons or really weak-looking special effects, but the rest of the movie is so fun it really overcomes that.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, drug use and violence-against-animals.

So yeah, Hollywood has made a mess out of Scooby Doo. Honestly...and I'm just keeping it 100, the damned Scooby Doo cartoon wasn't that great to begin with. Let's get it out of the way first; yes, this is a Scooby Doo homage/parody. The names have been changed and the archetypes updated but the influence is 100% Scooby Doo. Ironically, the Scooby character, the dog ( I can't recall it's name) is almost an after thought in the movie...and I'm pretty sure this was done intentionally. The focus is what and how would the Mystery Team from Scooby Doo actually act if the cartoon was a reality. In other words, why would they see the bizarre things they see, why would they come to some of their outlandish conclusions, why and how would the old gag involving everyone chasing the fiend through multiple doors work??? Clever stuff. The cast is eccentric and marvelous. They flesh themselves out through character acting and very little to no back story. The cinematography is ideal for the slasher movie breathing down the necks of our characters and slyly sets up tension and creates a slow burning doom that may or may not be awaiting our protagonists. The score is very well done but the sound effects are some of the best I've heard in some time. If you do check this great little flick out, listen for those sound effects...they're remarkable. There are a few small problems however... It might be a bit too long as some have suggested, but my theory is the movie kicks gears towards the end and it sort of guts any emotional investment we might have been brewing. It goes from a sort of edgy comedy to a survival/slasher movie much like "Behind the Mask : The Rise of Leslie Vernon" and I felt the same way as a viewer of that great little movie as I did with this one. Very interesting collection of talent involved with this one...I'll be following what they do in the future.

"Saturday Morning Mystery" (formerly known as Saturday Morning Massacre- and Massacre is still the film's true form.) is a bizarre little indie flick directed by Spencer Parsons. The film stars Ashley Rae Spillers, Johnny Mars, Josephine Decker, Adam Tate and Paul Gordon. The story follows a crack pot team of paranormal investigators, much like the Scooby gang, who get hired to dispel the rumors and fears of locals around the paranormal activity at an estate. The group soon learn that there are much more sinister things hidden behind the walls of the Kyser schoolhouse. The gang choose to stay and solve the creepy behind the going-ons at the property, which proves to be in grave error. The decision to solve this mystery becomes a real massacre. "Saturday Morning Mystery", (or Massacre) as I prefer to consider the film, is truly one of those strange films that blows you away. I had expected some cheesy, retro-throttled, low-budget spectacle. At the start there is a real throwback feel to the film which clearly became inspired by the cartoon mystery gang- only with the characters and their back-story though. Beyond that the similarities become terrifyingly obsolete. This is a real fright-fest fanfare story, with a way more sinister series of events than any cartoon show could think of inspiring. It becomes a truly gripping and nail-biting grindhouse horror story. The kitschy beginning and groovy build-up in this film has a cleverly darker intent. That intent is to throw you off guard, and then drag you into the pits of hellish nightmares as your nails tear off, and blood stained cries shatter the dark chilling air! This film is one of those rides into horror land that you will be glad you took. Think –The Scooby gangs accidentally wonder into the path of Stag Night kinfolk in a rural setting. The story in this film is pretty well written and flows beautifully. There are a couple of moments that go off between dialog and scene portrayal. Actually only two that I remember seeming off was the "tab of acid" line and the "I totally have a jimmy in this bag" (or something like that.) There was no tabs taken-the drug leeched into the water cooler, and the character that said the line about the jimmy didn't have a bag on her in the scene. At least I didn't see one. Anyway those two moments – that is all-those two were the only milliseconds that slowed my totally pleasurable horror ride into this window to Hell. Pretty much every aspect of the film from cinematography to directed to soundtrack and kill scenes rocked in "Saturday Morning Mystery" You don't expect the intense vicious turn this film takes toward the last act but man it drags you in and sets you on the edge of the slaughtering blade of horror. This is truly one of the best indie horror films I have seen and a must for horror movie collectors.