31 Days of Hell: Bromance is Dead: Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)

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This is going to date me, but I remember as a kid that we would have lots of VHS laying around the house with movies taped from the TV (or HBO when it was free preview week). My parents used those EP (extended play) VHS tapes that had six hours of recording time on them so they would always have several movies on them with the titles written on the white sticker on the front. Dude Bro Party Massacre III attempts to recapture the feel of watching a horror flick on a old VHS tape. Unfortunately, according to the opening title of the film, the first two Dude Bro Party Massacre negatives were lost and only the third film was saved. Some young kid taped it off of a public access channel late at night and that is how it is available for us to enjoy today!

As a child of the '80s I loved the presentation of this movie. For one, it's filmed in 4:3 and it looks like shit, just like tapes used to back in the day. If you used EP VHS it degraded the video quality in order to be able to fit in the additional content. That's a small thing, but I admire the director's attention to detail. Also, every once in awhile the movie is interrupted by (fake) commercials which are hilarious. There are also scenes with tracking issues and glitches which reproduces the VHS watching experience perfectly.

The movie is a parody of '80s slasher films but instead of the victims being women they are all....uh...dude bros. I found the writing to be hilarious and it occupies that fine line between clever and stupid perfectly. The closest thing I can compare it to are the film parodies that Mad Magazine does, but much more gory and sexually explicit. I was laughing my ass off frequently and some of the jokes are so bizarre and over-the-top that I couldn't help but go with the flow. There are a few fun cameos too: Patton Oswald and Greg Sestero (from The Room) play some minor characters. The acting is actually pretty good for what they were going for and everyone has great comedic timing.


Dude Bro Party Massacre III is still a horror movie even with all the comedy being thrown around. The practical effects are great and there is a whole lot of gore (played for laughs) for people who are into that stuff. 5 Second Films, the group who made the film, had a Kickstarter to fund the film and ended up with about $250K. I can tell that most of it was used for the special effects and possibly some post-processing. The story doesn't make sense for the most part, but it ticks along at a brisk pace and doesn't overstay its welcome.

 Sad to say, but the movie didn't get a whole lot of attention upon its release and it's an underrated gem and possible future cult classic. Fans of '80s horror or B movies should most definitely give this film a watch!

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-Michelle Kisner