*This is a spoiler-free review so feel free to read on!*

“Things are really heating up in the race for Mayor…”

Founders Day released back in August 2023 at London Fright Fest and will be playing at Toronto After Dark on October 20th 2023. The slasher horror film stars Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, Amy Hargreaves, Catherine Curtin, and William Russ. It runs for approximately an hour and forty-five minutes.

A small town is plagued by a series of brutal killings leading up to a cutthroat mayoral election.

Founders Day has a fun premise and a few twists worth sticking around for. Is it worthy of your next watch? Let’s find out…

The Pros:

Fun idea for a slasher film.

We have plenty of horror entries for Halloween and Christmas, but not too many November/Fall ones. With the film, Thanksgiving coming out soon and now with Founders Day, we have some some solid slasher entries for the season to indulge in, which is a very good thing!

This film is brought to us by the same creator of She Came from the Woods and I thought it had a similar vibe to that film. It had some dry humor mixed in, which worked well for the most part, and some stand-out characters. Some of the small town discussions even reminded me of Jaws in a playful way, which worked to the film’s advantage.

Catherine Curtin stole the movie for me and was as fantastic as ever and I thought our lead did a decent job as well.

Inventive kills!

I actually really enjoyed some of the kills in this one and thought they were well done. I would have liked a touch more gore and some extended chase scenes, but I’m all for some slasher fun just in time for Fall.

The Cons:

The fluff in-between slowed down the pacing.

Overall, I thought the runtime for this film was fine, but I could have done without some of the unnecessary conversations between certain characters. They felt a little filler. The killings were a lot of fun and I didn’t think this film needed to be weighed down by anything else. It found its groove again by the time it reached the climax, however.

So am I in or out?

I’m in about 75 percent…

If you’re looking for a fun B-movie slasher film with an inventive premise and some killer twists, there’s plenty to enjoy with this one.

I think horror fans will appreciate this one for sure.

Special thanks to Mainframe Pictures for this press screening.

I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts and theories on Founders Day in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!

Best,

Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl