#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead
#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead
The premise of a solitary killer stalking a group of teenagers has been the template for the slasher genre for many years. In the last few decades however, the emphasis of the teen movies, and the co-ed for that matter, has shifted. Nevertheless, it attempts to use the same formula in #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead. The breakneck pace and the constant intensity often allow the slasher to meet its high targets. However, weak character development and the over-reliance on stereotypical elements reduce the film to a routine affair. It is the most disappointing type of slapstick which does not know what it is and fails to involve the audience in the needless violent display.
Made by the director Marcus Dunstan, #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead is about seven teens spending their summer holidays at a music festival. However, when they end up with a flat tire, they find themselves in an Airbnb two hours away from the concert. Sarah (Jade Prttyjohn) is a newcomer, while the others have known each other for a long time. As time flows, these familiarities become an issue as they get stalked by a murderer. The killer points to the death of their beloved friend Colette (Jojo Sewa) and attempts to unveil the truth about the infamous group. One by one members are eliminated with each meeting the same end as one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead is a wild ride through internet culture that never lets its foot off the accelerator. Quite the opposite, it does this with characters who look as though they are incompetent with the internet and technology in general. And the way Dunstan attempts to come up with some jokes is not the most current tech cultural way. In one scene, a character quickly scans through some videos with the camera and then jumps in to insert a line which that same character says while emphasizing the appropriate part of the video. Those are closer to primary videos from camcorders than secondary recordings from cell phone videos. Particularly in a time of TikToks and instagram reels, the long videos and fast forwarding that look like a VHS tape are just way out of the trend.
Also, #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead can be described as having a flair of adhd editing. It’s multi-plot alternation of the camera and animation sequences is increasing the intensity as the chronology approaches the main part. In the beginning, however, while there is a documentation of a similar terrorist massacre occurring in 2004 where the visual was appropriately edited with the help of old news clips, none of the subsequent shots came close to that standard.
The moment of the downfall for #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead comes from its unbearable reliance on reminiscing about amazing films too much. It certainly does not help the slasher’s case to take ideas from Se7en, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Scream and use them as their own. There is nothing wrong with paying tribute but there is more wrong in stealing all the range of the plot. Some of the gore segments are not as bad but there aren’t many cases with other segments where the gore effect did the job as they had been aimed to.
What is eternally maddening about #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead is that we can also observe that Dunstan possesses visual skills. Shots and ideas are executed about as well as you can expect, but everything is boring thanks to the pacing and the storyline. There is the kind of movie which embodies the spirit of the times. The focus however is the other way in how this movie seems to be made to ride on the gen z blood and gore without giving the audience something new on the teen slasher.
Another element that works against #AMFAD is the release of other films such as Bodies Bodies Bodies. The screenplay of the former has employed a more subtle approach towards the same themes. However, in the case of #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, the whodunit aspect of it fails to be convincing. It gives away too much too soon. This removes the tension from the slasher scenes and disappoints the audience.
AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead gets why this subject should be developed. But it is way too vague for Gen Z characters and at the same time tries to follow the cliches. It brings a fair amount of jitter and blood shed but apart from the kill scenes, it contains so many action sequences and repetitive ideas that it is difficult to make head or tail out of anything in it. Dunstan has issues attempting to find a rhythm for the film due to the abysmal acting. One can only hope that he does not have to eliminate substance of his film in order to meet the requisites of a particular genre.
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- Genre: horror, Mystery, Thriller
- Country: United States
- Director: Marcus Dunstan
- Cast: Jade Pettyjohn, JoJo Siwa, Jennifer Ens
