Allison (Naomi Grace) is at the center of brewing mystery in her idyllic town at the height of a bitter Mayoral election. Hitting the ground and literally running when her girlfriend Melissa (Olivia Nikkanen) is brutally murdered by a gavel-wielding killer wearing a demon mask, black cloak and a bench wig, Allison is among the first in this story to be affected by the bloodshed while the family of the deceased, including the victim’s father, defeated Mayoral Candidate Harold Faulkner (Jayce Bartok) and his son, Adam (Devin Druid) struggle to cope with Melissa’s death.
What remains to be seen is the potential fallout with Mayor Blair Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves) gearing up for the town’s annual Founders Day events, and her disgrunted and disproving opponent still in mourning. This, in addition to the impetuous actions of her daughter Lilly’s (Emilia McCarthy) impetuous and easily jealous boyfriend, Rob (Tyler James White) in the wake of the increasing bodycount by the same masked individual, only adds to the upheaval and tumult that soon finds Allison cornered and confronted with a deep, dark and horrifying truth that’s caused so much bloodshed and fear to spread in the town.
Such is the situation in Founders Day, the latest from Erik Bloomquist, who helmed previous thrillers such as Ten Minutes To Midnight and last year’s short-expanded feature, She Came From The Woods among his list of credits. Bloomquist co-penned with sibling film scribe and co-producer Carson Bloomquist for a popcorn flick that breathes some life into the indie slasher subgenre horror flicks, albeit at the expense of a contrived plot with a screenplay that takes its latency and turns it into something more perfunctory, common and sometimes headshake-inducing.
This aspect of the film is greatly underscored by how easily at times the film tends to look like something refurbished from a folder of overlooked pitches for another Wayans horror parody. A fervent effort by some the cast to attribute some reverence and quality to the film does little to quell the film’s convenient adherence to the usual stock of horror tropes which make Founders Day more laughable cannon fodder than the “bold political slasher” it intended to be.
Founders Day has some gumption for a sportive indie popcorn flick that spills a few ounces of blood along the way – nothing too fancy to make for an unsettling runtime, and with a welcoming retro score woven into the backdrop to set the mood right at times. This, topped off by a major twist in the second half to culminate the film’s events should proffer something a little more if you’re feeling optimistic. As for all other expectations, Founders Day may be worth sleeping in.