Danishka Esterhazy’s latest film is Killer Body Count, a movie she has made her name in with Level 16, The Banana Splits Movie, The Slumber Party Massacre and even episodes of SurrealEstate. This time around, however, she is returning to the slasher genre with sex, religion and dead adolescents in mind as the story unfolds from Jessica Landry’s script (Deadly Mom Retreat, Cheerleader Abduction).
At first, it seems quite familiar that two people having an affair in a tent are interrupted by a person wearing robes of a monk and a devil mask penetrating them unintentionally. Is he the seminarian who went insane and killed all his fellow students including priests and nuns twenty years ago or is someone taking advantage of the myth? That remains to be seen.
Cami (Cassiel Eatock-Winnik, Kite) has just been caught in the basement with a young man at Holy Spirit Catholic Church where her father finds her. After her mother died, he turned into religious beliefs and he cannot stand his daughter wanting sex. Father Tim suggests sending her to Eugene (Bjorn Steinbach,, Black Beauty)’s brother Tawny’s The Beautiful Savior Treatment Center which deals with young “sex addicts” on behalf of their families.
However shortly after Cami and Wyatt (Savana Tardieu,, Blood & Water) sneaking out after curfew resulting in him seeing the killer from earlier disemboweling one of the other kids in their home. And that’s not all because no matter who is underneath there will also be many more souls meeting their maker soon enough. To avoid becoming part of some other kind of body count they are unaccustomed to; campers like Cami need to make it past an electrified fence surrounding their camp.
The plot for Killer Body Count combines elements from films such as Friday the 13th, Meatballs, and House of Mortal Sin (complete with a weaponised incense censer) as well as some other sick stuff thrown in for good measure. That’s the kind of mix that should be begging to become an unrated, over-the-top exploitation movie. It does offer quite a bit of gore but mostly practical effects shots here and there.
However, it gets fairly coy when sex is involved, reinforcing the idea that seeing body parts messily sliced, diced and cut off is OK, while certain areas always have to be covered up no matter what. Female nipples must never be seen for instance even though a guy can soap his chest up all day long in the shower without any problem whatsoever. This is irritating above all else since this should be a film about people who assert their sexuality in spite of those who would crush it by any means necessary.
The cast of South African actors, most of whom are unfamiliar in the film industry, give energetic and sometimes over eager performances that occasionally border on hamming but in an interesting way. They also hide their accents which helps the directors to convince us that this is happening in America There may seem nothing much about it but numerous movies have been destroyed by those obviously artificial English accent as well as non US vehicle license plates. At least here they remembered to stick a California plate on Cami’s father’s car.
On the whole, Killer Body Count is a fun flick with good special effects, while you can predict parts of its plot, there are some unexpected twists. Not Esterhazy’s finest work but her best will probably always remain The Banana Splits Movie, which is delightfully gory and satisfying popcorn fare unlike many Tubi Originals.
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