MURDER UNIVERSITY
A small New England college is plagued by a series of brutal, cult-like murders that share a similar pattern of killings some twenty years earlier. The lone survivor of a recent attack must team up with a veteran police detective and his daughter in order to uncover the secret behind the killings, revealing a legacy of murder and the occult that has been kept buried for decades on campus.
Director: Richard Griffin
Writers: Lenny Schwartz
Stars: Samantha Acampora, David Adams Murphy, Dave Almeida, Thib Alqahtani, Nick Apostolides, Elyssa Baldassarri, Timothy Bonavita, Andre Boudreau, Mary DeBerry, Theresa Dern, Jamie Dufault, Jesse Dufault, Nancy Ferrante, Christopher L. Ferreira, Tonya Free, Dana Haley, Ryan Hanley, Ky Hanson
Rating: 10 / 10 Stars
REVIEW – Richard Griffin’s MURDER UNIVERSITY is such a fun little nod to ’80s slasher horror. Like all of Griffin’s previous films, he is neck-deep into this era and style. Welcome back to the year 1983, where sex and nudity are in abundance, and an awkward student named Josh does not seem to fit in at Greensboro University. Josh seems to get picked on and bullied a lot, if not by guys, then by women. Like most people who do not seem to fit in, Josh finds a friend in his roommate, who is a pervert quick on the wit. As we are learning about these characters, all around them, people are being axed down by a trio of murderers in devil masks. When Josh gets kidnapped but somehow set free, he enlists the help of Meg, who is the daughter of the detective on the case, to try and solve what is going on. If you are a fan of slasher films, you are going to have a blast with this film. It gives you plenty of boobs, blood, and cheese to have a field day. The film is more of the same, what to expect from Griffin. You know he is going to really keep the pace moving and draw you in with characters we can relate to, some cool blood gore kill scenes, and situations that we are not sure how they will play out. Griffin seems to be one of those directors who do a 180 from film to film. I mean, we go from the slow Hitchcockian noir of “Exhumed” to a takeoff of ’50s sci-fi with “Atomic Brain Invasion,” and now you get the ’80s slasher after those two. It’s very impressive that he has not lost anything from film to film. He seems so dead set on challenging himself film to film that the viewer gets to reap the rewards.
The negatives of this film are the last ten minutes of the film. I felt that it was safe, and, in the scheme and pace of the film, it was a little of a letdown. The film was very clever at certain times as well; I mean the opening minutes when we think we know how the film will play out, we get thrown a curve that sets this film in motion, and we are left to believe that this film does not know horror bounds and rules. The film also works for the simple fact that the characters were not so dumbed down that they did not have the trip and fall in the middle of the woods, and the fact that there were three killers, so that could explain how they could be anywhere at any time. This film at times felt like a blood-soaked love letter; it did not play romance sappy or family relations. It made them funny. I mean, many times in the film, they reference Josh’s mom being some kind of pervert. The big romance scene got there from a chant from people wanting Josh to bone her. This film has such a dark humor to it that some fans may not get it or care, but for horror fans who like people who think outside of the box, the humor was a breath of fresh air. Why does horror always have to be so serious to be effective? I feel if the material is strong, humor cannot take away from it. Richard has yet to disappoint, and this film is another reason to seek out this man’s past and present works. Another hit from Wild Eye Releasing and a brag-worthy film from Richard.
MURDER UNIVERSITY | Official Trailer:
