When watching a film, it's vital to understand who its target audience is. Many fans and critics mislabel a film as "bad" or "cheesy" and dismiss it merely because it wasn't made with them in mind. Some horror films are love letters to the horror genre but are still accessible to a mass audience. Scare Package is a love letter made only for the most hardcore, long-term horror fans. If that describes you, Scare Package is a fantastic film that will entertain you from start to finish. If you aren't, this isn't a film for you; but, then again, you might still enjoy it in general terms.
Scare Package is an anthology film, telling seven stories (including a wrap-around) that parody and pay tribute to the various tropes of the horror genre. The wrap-around story, titled "Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium," focuses on a video-store clerk hiring a new employee and the basement-dwelling horror fan who wants the job. Along the way, they discuss horror films and horror tropes they like, which leads to the various vignettes.
Like many anthologies, the film is a mixed bag. The wrap-around is surprisingly the most compelling aspect of the film, especially toward the last half-hour where it shifts into an actual plot that pays off a lot of the previously established set-up.
Arguably the best short in the bunch is "Cold Open," which, as the name implies, serves as a "Cold Open" to the narrative. The film focuses on a person, aptly named Mike Myers, who is hired to incite the events of a horror film, but who never actively participates in the hijinks that ensue. This is an incredibly meta and very funny short with a surprising amount of warmth.
The second short, "One Time in the Woods," is delightfully grotesque, featuring tons of body horror and brutal kills. It firmly establishes anything can and will happen in this film. You've got body melting, axes impaling genitals, heads exploding -- it is a twisted affair with a lot of humor.
The next two shorts, "M.I.S.T.,E.R." and "Girls’ Night Out of Body," are a little less compelling. Both parody gender-centric horror films, with the former featuring Men's Rights Activist werewolves and the latter a sleepover turned body horror. Neither are as funny or satirical as the previous episodes, but are short enough to be inoffensive. Between the two, "M.I.S.T.,E.R." is a little funnier and sports some pretty good monster violence. Meanwhile, "Girls' Night Out of Body" could have done more to satirize feminist body-horror films like Jennifer's Body or Ginger Snaps, but instead seems to shy away from engaging with the genre's tropes.
"The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill," however, picks things up again by featuring what amounts to the cast of a slasher film trying to vanquish a killer who comes back every year, this time for good. It's very much in line with the sixth short, "One Time in the Woods" in terms of both wanton violence and irreverent humor, making it another highlight.
On the other hand, the last short, "So Much To Do" is hard to pin down. It might be a riff about spoiler culture, John Carpenter's The Fog or the television series Quantum Leap, but it never clearly parodies anything. It's easily the weakest episode of the bunch.
Scare Package is a mixed bag of horror goodies, and not all the jokes land. This isn't a perfect horror anthology like Creepshow or Tales from the Hood, where every short is great. For this reason, casual horror fans might have a mixed response to the film, and unless you've seen Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter recently, entire chunks of the final act will alienate you. However, hardcore horror fans will catch a lot of the more subtle in-jokes. Plus, there is one cameo in particular that gets a lot of fanfare but only horror fans will recognize.
Scare Package is made by and for hardcore-horror fans who love the genre. If seeing VHS grain over spotty gore effects makes you feel giddy, Scare Package is perfect for you. This is a film where death is bloody hilarious and monsters are walking punchlines. It feels tailor-made for drinking games and laughs among horror enthusiasts who have loved the genre all their lives.
Scare Package, directed by Emily Hagins, Chris McInroy, Anthony Cousins, Hillary & Courney Andujar, Aaron B. Koontz, Noah Segan and Baron Vaughn and starring Jeremy King, Noah Segan, Chase Williamson, Baron Vaughn, Byron Brown and Toni Trucks, is available on Shudder on June 18.