VHS Review // Murdercise (2023)
"Murdercise" is another film from A & P Productions (who also did "Only Fangs") and they even used a lot of the same actors, which will make this movie feel more familiar even though I'm going backwards in time as this movie came before "Only Fangs". I think this movie does have that same concept as "Only Fangs" though, where it's an idea and then taking that idea and seeing it through. This film centers around the idea of people (mostly women) creating an exercise video and then those involved begin slowly dying.
This movie takes place in a time when VHS still is the main technology, as this eventual workout tape is going to be released as such. There are little nods such as the clothing which make this feel like it is the case, but in some ways I also think it would just be funny if this was set in modern times and they were just releasing their exercise video on VHS because they were too cheap to do DVD or Blu-Ray (though to be fair, doing VHS is not always less expensive since it's no longer a common format and you'll know that by having this film on VHS)
At the very beginning of this movie there is a scene where a woman is killed by people pretending to be the police. This is important because it comes back later in the film, at a point when I almost forget about it. This movie really centers on two characters at the start: Candy (Jessa Flux) and Phoebe (Kansas Bowling). Candy is the lead on the exercise tape, which the producer kind of knows is going to sell more for the sexual appeal of it, and Phoebe is kind of on the side lines, not as involved in it all.
Well, through a series of somewhat funny events, which include Candy screaming about people touching and looking at her boobs, Phoebe accidentally kills Candy. This begins the whole part of the film where it's a murder mystery and with side plots such as Mrs. Stromboli being there, this just turns into a lot of fun even though those in the exercise video who oppose Phoebe seem to have a way of dying now. This all comes to a head when the gang needs the police and who should happen to show up but the fake police who are out murdering naked women.
What I like most about "Murdercise" is that it is a film that takes itself seriously in the way that it is produced, but it doesn't take itself as seriously in the plot and delivery of the story. When watching this, I'm amazed at how it can both look like a modern film but also just something made in the 1980's/1990's that would've had a VHS release. It's very much of that time. But there are so many filmmmakers today who just use their cellphones and make a film- which is fine, I'm not against that in any way (I'm no film snob)- but the production quality here is just better. You can tell they know what they're doing.
At the same time as all of that, this very much feels like the type of movie you'd buy as a teenager just because you wanted to see some nudity. In that way, you can feel like certain scenes and aspects of this film know that to where it can become comedic. This is actually a great way to approach this type of film though because far too often movies- especially if they involve murder- try and take themselves way too seriously. I've seen movies where we, as the audience, are supposed to care about these characters as they die and I simply do not. But, oddly, in this movie I do care about Candy (Why didn't they just look at her boobs? She didn't have to die!)
To think of this movie in the sense of the plot going from Point A to Point B is just simply not how it is. In the way that this could be that sexual awakening for some teenager, there also is a lot of moving parts within this story with the different characters and it's just the type of thing that you have to pay close attention to in between the laughs. For this to hit those points of comedy and the horror / murder / stabbing aspect of it all, but to have such complicated aspects of this already one-of-a-kind type of film just makes this something to watch and enjoy over and over again.
Purchase "Murdercise" on VHS here :::
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