Review: “Killer Piñata”
- Scott
- Oct 8, 2020
- 2 min read
Another movie and another inanimate object come to life to reek havoc on those that have wronged it. Sadly, once you break the fun festive outside, Killer Piñata is filled with disappointment.
Mr. and Mrs. Goodman are throwing a party for their son Luke, and everyone will be there. The big entertainment for the part is Luke breaking open a piñata. Mr. Goodman had one job; get the piñata. Unfortunately for him he forgets what his wife sent him out to get at the party store so he just buys three piñatas and hopes that one of them is right. What he didn’t know was that he bought a possessed, murderous, virtually unstoppable killing machi– I mean piñata.
I’m not going to sugar-coat this one, it’s bad. There are a few scenes and bits that made me genuinely laugh, but on the whole, it’s really not good. My biggest problem with the flick is that it wants to have its cake and eat it too. You can’t have a movie about a killer piñata take itself completely serious then throw in winks and nods to the camera. The jokes it attempts to play with itself aren’t earned. It’s like the movie is split into two halves. One part of the movie is the serious, “oh god a killer piñata is after us what do we do?” and the other is the same but with slapstick comedy and a missing laugh-track.
Lindsay, Luke’s sister, is planning on throwing her own party once the rest of her family leaves to go on a short vacation. Her friends all show up and kick off the party with some drinking and decide that they want to break open another one of the piñatas for the hell of it. More drinking, and more debauchery ensues and that’s when the real party starts for them.
While I appreciate that the piñata at no point talks or becomes some sort of moral teacher, you can’t take yourself seriously through 75% of the film then thrown in an overt nod to Sam Rami with a montage of weapon building and a freeze frame. This was a film that was funded and created thanks to (at least in part) Kickstarter. Makes me wish I could have had this opportunity when my friends and I were in High School. They are attempting to get a sequel going, but I won’t hold my breath it’ll be much better. In the end, it’s a lot like a real piñata, looks like a lot of fun, and you think it’s worth it, then you realize its full of tootsie rolls and circus peanuts.
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