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Released by: Troma Entertainment
Released on: 5/10/2011
Director: Piotr Uzarowicz
Cast: Maggie Marion, James C. Burns, Becky Boxer, Taylor Gerard Hart
Year: 2006
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The Movie:
Troma gives another independent horror movie the chance to makes its mark in the DVD world. Get ready world for Killer Yacht Party. Not the typical sort of fare one may expect from the Troma folks, this one is void of wacky characters, gooey day-glo colored bodily fluids, and cheesy looking monsters. It is also is void of anything interesting or different.
A plain-Jane girl named Jane moved from some sleepy Iowa town to the big city of L.A. to try and make a name for herself in the music scene. Her friend Lacy is a trendy club rat who is trying to help Jane get a man and fit in with her crowd, and Jane is of course resistant. One evening at a club Lacy meets the owner and he invites her to an exclusive yacht party (that costs money to get into, so it's really a sales pitch more than an invitation). The two girls go to the party, which is on a boat that was once owned by an heiress. The heiress was killed in a fire on the boat, ruled as an accident but everyone knows her husband killed her to get her money, and now the boat is supposedly haunted.
As dusk turns to night the party boat sails out to sea with its cargo of meat suits (one is a psychic!) and they start getting bumped off one-by-one. There are a number of suspects on board and any one of them can be the killer. Can you guess who it is? Probably.
This one is paced pretty slowly and not much happens for the first two-thirds of the running time. None of the characters are likable, as they are all self-centered (including the corn-fed Iowa girl) and it's pretty impossible to care what happens to any of them. With the exception of one incident, the kills are pretty basic and uninspired. The acting is inconsistent but passable, but who really cares when the movie itself is just blah to begin with. The look of the movie is typical and they do a fine job with the production, if that counts for anything. But with a story that's mediocre, a cast that doesn't stand out, and finished product that falls far short of being entertaining or interesting, a slick looking movie doesn't mean a whole lot. Slasher movies can be fun, but this one is not.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Presented here 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, Killer Yacht Party looks like an average DVD. So much of it is filmed in the dark and in dark places that the image doesn't stand out as anything exemplary. The colors look right, skin tones look fine, and the black levels are decent. No artifacts to mention or other disc authoring items. The audio is a 2.0 Dolby Digital and the levels seem too low. The volume needed to be cranked up higher than normal in order to hear everything and when the menu came back on after the feature it was really loud. Once the volume is up, levels seem balanced. No issues to report.
The main extra is a commentary by the writer and the director, which is miles better than the film itself. The two are able to keep it going for the whole running time and for indie filmmakers, or those who can appreciate the turmoil of trying to make a movie with limited resources, this is a good listen. There is a useless slide show of half an minute and the trailer for the movie, and the film starts with a waste of time intro by Papa Lloyd and Debbie Rochon that can be seen on other Troma releases. Also included is a section of “Tromatic Extras†which can be seen on other discs. One of the items is a 12 minute look at “Produce Your Own Damn Movie Box Setâ€, another is a PSA for “Net Neutralityâ€, plus some trailers.
The Final Word:
A lame movie with a good commentary, coupled with extras not specific to this release, results in a DVD that may be best suited for people who have to collect every Troma release. For those looking for that elusive next cult classic or even a decent horror movie, look elsewhere.
