[Film Review] Vicious Fun (2021)

Five serial killers walk into a bar…and if you want the end of that joke, you’ll have to watch Cody Calahan’s Vicious Fun. The film has a classic 80s rip-roaring fun feel from the start, following a fanboy film critic who writes for a magazine called, wait for it, Vicious Fun. 

Joel (Evan Marsh) is a moderately tolerable nerd with a hardly hidden crush on his uninterested roommate Sarah (Alexa Rose Steele). When Sarah comes home late after a steamy date with a handsome stranger, Joel takes it upon himself to follow the man to a bar to prove he’s a scumbag. Joel is the most conspicuous person in the bar, turning a recorder on while ordering a drink as if it’s his first time, sidling up to the bar while trying to make eye contact with Sarah’s handsome and charming date, Bob (the scene-stealing Ari Millen). 

No matter what he does, Joel cannot crack the suave stranger, and even as Bob leaves with a young woman, Joel is left with little to take back to Sarah as proof. Joel proceeds to get piss drunk and, after he humiliates himself in front of a beautiful woman and vomits all over the payphone, he passes out in the utility closet. And this is when the movie really kicks in.

There were moments leading up to this point that the film felt redundant, Joel’s personality gets slightly grating, with his incel-esque attitude toward Sarah growing tired quickly. But when Joel wakes up and stumbles into a self-help group full of serial killers, the story is revived and transformed into a hilarious and bloody game of cat and mouse. 

Proving that serial killers need emotional support just like the rest of us, the circle of psychopaths is filled with gut-busting funny guys and throat slashing monsters. The apparent leader is Zachary (David Koechner, The Office, Anchorman), a former death squad trainer for the government. He is joined by Hideo (Sean Baek) the cannibal chef, Mike (Robert Maillet) the Myers-ish rage monster with mommy issues, Fritz the Clown (an incredible performance by Anything for Jackson’s Julian Richings) and of course, Bob Meeks, the sociopathic homicidal pickup artist who enjoys playing with his prey. Included in the group is Carrie (Amber Goldfarb), the woman who brutally rebuffed Joel earlier in the night. 

In a classic case of mistaken identity, Joel is considered to be a fellow killer, and the story proceeds to spin out into a ridiculously fun splatter fest. The dialogue is quick and biting, with even Joel getting some nice one-liners in as the night goes on and the crazy hijinks ramp up. The introduction of three mustachioed cops adds ever more hilarity and once the group of serial killers are taken off their leash Vicious Fun proves itself to be unstoppably entertaining.

With a kicking soundtrack reminiscent of The Guest and a synthy score from Steph Copeland, Vicious Fun is filled with crazy kills, gorgeous practical effects, and at least one woman who tells Joel that being a creepy asshole won’t earn him love. The cast of powerhouse actors are each given their own shining and gory moments and James Villeneuve’s tight, exciting script makes Vicious Fun the horror-comedy of the year. 

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