Shudder, streaming now

A film critic for a national horror magazine, finds himself unwittingly trapped in a self-help group for serial killers.

Director Cody Calahan’s (The Oak Room) 80s-set horror comedy is so knowing and such good fun that it bounces along its 100 minute run time at a non-stop pace.

It’s 1983 and journalist Joel (Evan Marsh, Shazam!) is convinced that his flatmate’s boyfriend is secretly married, so he follows him to a bar. There he accidentally stumbles into a 12-point programme support group for serial killers and tries his best to pretend he’s one of them.

He’s eventually rumbled, and it’s only through the intervention of ‘friendly’ killer Carrie (Amber Goldfarb) that he escapes. The killers now have concerns that Joel will reveal their identities (after all, he has been listening to their confessions) and decide to track him and Carrie down. The fun here is of course in recognising all the references to other 80s horror movies, as well as the common themes they shared. From the police station under siege to the attack in the hospital to Steph Copeland’s synth score, the movie isn’t so much meta or a parody, but pretends it was made in the same decade as its influences, offering up some fun, rubbery gore along the way.

Verdict: Stranger Things for slasher movies – if you grew up watching stalk n slash movies then you’ll find plenty to chuckle at in this love letter to men with big knives. 8/10

Nick Joy