Cody Calahan made one of our favourite films of last year’s festival circuit, The Oak Room. The film was based on a stage play and told a series of dark and dangerous tales over the course of one snowy night. It’s now available to own on Digital HD and DVD in the UK, and whilst most filmmakers would be content to leave it a couple of years before their next movie, Calahan already has his next one ready to go. Vicious Fun began its festival career at the end of last year and played Glasgow Film Festival at the start of this year. This week it arrives on the formidable horror streaming service that is Shudder.
Set during the eighties, Vicious Fun sees a horror film magazine critic, Joel (Evan Marsh), accidentally stumble across a self-help group for serial killers. After realising that Joel isn’t one of them, the group surrender to their urges and begin hunting him – can he survive the night?
With Vicious Fun Calahan has created a film that gives exactly what the title promises, lots of gleefully vicious fun. Despite having been made almost immediately after The Oak Room, and with both films releasing back-to-back, they couldn’t be more different in terms of tone and style. The Oak Room is a moody, timeless, single location thriller, whereas Vicious Fun, vibrantly lit with neon, takes place across an entire city and oozes its eighties setting in every frame. Calahan is clearly not following the route of many directors – sticking to making the same type of film on repeat – and has become somewhat of a chameleon filmmaker, easily adapting to whatever new idea he comes up with. We caught up with Calahan to find out a little more about his filmmaking process, and why Vicious Fun should be your next Shudder pick.
Vicious Fun arrives on Shudder worldwide from 29th June 2021.
