VOD of the Dead - PUNCH (2023)
The slasher film is one of the most popular sub-genres in horror. Famous for giving us characters such as Leatherface, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Cropsey, and more the genre is also infamous for how many films miss the mark. While many horror fans glamorize the 80s and the abundance of slasher films that came from that era, most of those films are at best passable and in most cases simply forgettable. Sure, everyone has a favorite hidden gem or one they will defend regardless, but on the whole, it can be agreed that more slashers aren’t good than there are that are good. Slasher fans often don’t mind the redundancy of the formula much like MCU fans don’t get superhero fatigue, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a minimum standard of expectation and quality. While the latter is always subjective, it can also be assumed that as time goes on it becomes increasingly more difficult to make a new or interesting slasher, with only recent entries like Terrifier coming to mind as rare examples of success. This is what Punch, written and directed by Andy Edwards and released by Trinity Creative Partnership is attempting to do. Is this slasher worth a jab, or is it a punch you’d better block?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Before heading back to university, Frankie craves one final night out in her coastal hometown, but sinister local legend Mr. Punch is on the prowl, and chaos ensues as Frankie and her friends fight for survival in this eerie slasher.
HOW IS IT?
Punch is a frustrating film for slasher fans like this reviewer. While the bar that slashers are held to can be somewhat high, the formula is still quite simple. Interesting killer(s), good kills, and a snappy presentation are just a few of the most important ingredients, and to Punch’s credit, it does one of these well enough. The other two, not as much. What starts as an interesting premise ultimately ends with a lot of confusion and disappointment as Punch manages to fall just short of its potential by simply mismanaging the narrative. Even at a breezy 80 minutes, Punch loses steam when it is supposed to be building it.
Frankie has a complicated relationship with her mom and hometown. So much so that she is reluctantly back home after a mental health episode involving her mother, all while hiding her return from the friends she ran away from to go to university. While interesting characters and backstories are not a hard requirement for slashers, Punch sets up an interesting dynamic between Frankie and her narcissistic mother. One that ultimately never amounts to much, which is kind of the problem with Punch as a whole. Once we are introduced to the killer, there is little to no explanation of motive or reasoning until the very end, and even then it is still unclear what is actually going on. In fact, the first third of the movie is spent with characters and stories that do not matter at all in the grand scheme of the story so it often feels like the film is treading water until the killing starts. And when it does, it does with some mixed results.
In the first paragraph, the traits of slashers listed included “interesting killer(s)” and “good kills”. Unfortunately, these are the two weakest areas of Punch. The mask is novel at first, but the wise-cracking jokes and high-pitched cartoon voice coming from the killer are enough to drive the eyes in the back of one's head from rolling. The jokes are never funny or ironic and are often just retreads of misogynistic quips you’ve heard before. The same is said of the kills, save for one kind of interesting death with a bat to the mouth the use of the bat provides no real canvas for anything original. You get a couple of heads bashed, and some gut-punches, but really nothing that you haven’t seen before elsewhere. And that’s really the cardinal sin here, there just aren’t enough interesting elements here to make the whole worthwhile. This is a shame considering it is well made at a technical level with great lighting and good use of location cinematography throughout. Punch’s interesting mask is a good starting point for a slasher, and the interesting characters have more depth than you’d ever need along with some sinister locations for which mayhem ensues. Ultimately, none of that can save the mediocrity of the slasher elements and the incoherence of the motive.
LAST RITES
Punch is a good concept with a slick presentation that fails to captivate the viewer with its slasher tropes. A good mask can only take you so far, especially when the intentions of the killer don’t make a lot of sense and the kill scenes are uninspired.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
Where can you watch it?
PUNCH is available NOW on all VOD and Digital Streaming platforms!
Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following Macabre Daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
