‘Try to make it until morning…’
Party Night is a 2017 American slasher horror film written, co-produced and directed by Troy Escamilla (Teacher Shortage; Mrs. Claus). The movie stars Tommie Vegas, Billy Brannigan and Laurel Toupal.
Plot:
Six friends become prey for a sadistic psychopath when they decide to ditch their high school’s after prom party for their own celebration at a secluded house…
Reviews:
“Performances are all over the place, with most staying in the (seemingly intentionally) silly range. However, the one truly straight-laced character in the film, Amy (Laurel Toupal), is certainly the 
standout […] Despite its shortcomings, Party Night oozes with charm and sincerity. This one promises to capture the hearts of die-hard slasher fans and not really anyone else.” Cinema Slasher
“Escamilla wanted to make a fun, cheesy and violent tribute flick, and boom! He did it, and not to overlook some of the film’s small faults such as suspect performances, goofy thought processes (didn’t everyone in an 80’s slasher have them), and the lack of some real screen time for the lead slasher, the movie does have its merits.” Dread Central
“Sure, the lighting in the exterior night-time scenes needed a bit more work, and the acting was all over the place, but Party Night is campy in all the right places, angsty and hyper-sexualized in the other spots, and an absolute gorefest. Throw in teenage drama and palpable moments of suspense, and this one was pretty good.” Horror Society
“Quick kills, a simplistic plot and characters that make you scream “what are you doing?” before they get killed off are all here to enjoy. The killer isn’t particularly memorable but you don’t see the killer in full on shots too often to make it a big issue. At times it is hard to work out what people are saying due to sound issues…” Horrorscreams Videovault
“The one disappointment I had with the film was the look of the killer. I found the light jacket he wore to be a bit anticlimactic. The white and blue two tone of it seemed to be an odd choice and didn’t quite mesh well with his actions […] Kudos to first time writer and director Troy Escamilla for crafting a fun and bloody homage to the slasher flicks of the 1980’s and assembling a great technical cast and group of actors.” The Indie Horror Review
“Despite small quirks here and there, Party Night delivers and will have no problem gaining traction to capture the hearts of extremists who love the genre. My mind cannot help but wonder what type of film we could have had if Escamilla had a larger budget. Who knows maybe it would have been terrible? But this lovely cast, story, and direction blurred the lines between big Hollywood production and independent film…” iHorror.com
“The formula is really down to the T, there’s violence in all the right places, the murders are gruesome, the masked killer looks creepy, and while the teens do stupid things in this one, they are intelligent enough to be respected as human beings (not always the case in slashers), and likeable enough to be cared for.” Search My Trash
“There is no rampant sex, drugs and alcohol with idiots deserving to die (ok, maybe a little bit of that), instead there is lots of arguments, and people feeling like maybe they should have gone to the after prom party after all […] I wanted to enjoy Party Night and I really did, I found this such a fun throwback that made me realise that I do actually miss old school slashers a lot.” The Rotting Zombie
Cast and characters:
Ryan Poole … Andrew
Tommie Vegas … Molly
Billy Brannigan … Travis
Joe Grisaffi … Radio DJ
Destinie Orndoff … Olivia – Red Eye
Lawrence McKinney … Uncle
Drew Shotwell … Nelson
Laurel Toupal … Amy
Candice D’Meza … Victim #1
Jimmy Phillips … Benson
Filming locations:
Houston, Huntsville and Montgomery, Texas
