For anyone who loves an 80’s retro aesthetic, serial killers, and dialogue filled with fabulous movie references, Vicious Fun might just be your very favorite film for 2021. Less insidious than Mother of Movies anticipated Vicious Fun to be, the horror and comedy movie begins on a dark and misty night. A suspicious-looking character is seen cruising the streets before coming across a lonely figure in a phone booth. After a slightly cheesy but cold and calculated kill scene, the story introduces Joel. Joel is the ‘serious film critic’ for a horror movie magazine called Vicious Fanatics.

He sits down to discuss the hot latest film with a movie director, well known in the ‘Vicious Fun’ universe. Joel prods the director about slow-moving killer icons. He also berates him for outdated ideas, and stale content before the man snaps back and asks Joel how he would have done it better. Of course, Joel has many concepts for new and exciting horror movies. He lets loose with his idea about a serial killer cab driver he is promptly shown the door.

Not As Vicious As Some

Vicious Fun is the type of horror movie that comes at you from a bunch of different angles. It’s relatable in a way that only a teenage coming-of-age film can be. But it also provides the anti-hero with a bodyguard so they don’t get slaughtered in the first quarter of the story. Joel is the retrospective lovelorn loser. He lives with a flatmate that he secretly wants as his girlfriend. He’s goofy in a Cole from The BabySitter kind of way. You love to cheer from the sidelines for his success while secretly wondering how he doesn’t get killed off in every scene.

The film is fun in an off-beat and corny way. And while the gore and slasher-style murders aren’t extreme for lovers of this particular genre they are inciteful and play around with so many homages from classic slasher films, most fans will truly get a kick out of most of what Vicious Fun offers. Without spoiling too much, Joel ends up on the wrong side of a secret group meeting hosted by Zachary, a serial killer for a collection of the best serial killers in the region. If that’s not enough to raise the hairs on your arms in anticipation, the cast is phenomenal, and not one of them failed to bring a smile to my face.

Julian Richings starts as Fritz in Vicious Fun. Courtesy of Breakthrough Entertainment

Classic Slasher Nostalgia in Vicious Fun Movie

Of course, if I had to pick a favorite cast member, it would be Julian Richings who I saw in 2020’s Anything For Jackson. Perfect for horror movies, Richings plays a killer called Fritz. Fritz likes to dress as a clown. Described as a lizard-man who takes notes on human behavior in the hopes he can become more like everyone else. By the same token, I’d love to talk more about some of the other killers. However, to do so would ruin the surprise factor of how Joel gets out of his dire predicament in the first half of the movie. So I won’t.

The idea behind Vicious Fun, the attention to all that we love about 80’s cinema as well as iconic horror movie killers plus the kick-a*s soundtrack really makes this a pretty good watch. And while not everything in the film keeps up with the pace of how fast it should feel, there is plenty of nostalgia to make up for it.

The Vicious Fun movie is rated

3.5 Serial killers in therapy out of 5

Mother of Movies score

Written and directed by Cody Calahan (The Oak Room, Let Her Out, and Anti Social) with the story by James Villeneuve,
Starring: Evan Marsh, Amber Goldfarb, Ari Millen, Julian Richings, Robert Maillet, Sean Baek, David Koechner and Alexa Rose Steele,
Distributed by Breakthrough Entertainment.
For another review of Vicious Fun, check out Buzz Mag for their take,
Vicious Fun was viewed as a screener and is available from June 29th on Shudder.
Vicious Fun Full Movie Trailer & Where to Watch