We have said it before, and we’ll say it again, Erik Bloomquist is one of the hardest working directors. In the last three years Bloomquist has directed five feature films with his sixth, Founders Day, having just made its international debut at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest. Of the six, four titles, including Founders Day, fit under the umbrella of horror, making it Bloomquist’s genre of choice. No two of his genre movies are the same; even if you have seen a Bloomquist horror movie before, Founders Day still holds many surprises.
Last year at FrightFest, Bloomquist debuted eighties-set summer camp slasher She Came From the Woods. That film was a gleeful skewering of the Friday the 13th saga with an unexpected amount of family drama heaped on top. The family at the core of the chaos were all dealing with guilt and generational trauma, its inclusion offering a deeper look at what is usually a shallow story. For Founders Day, Bloomquist sticks within the slasher framework, but closer to the more progressive Scream. The slashings themselves are not the true focal feature of Founders Day, with its attention turned more towards the politics of one small American town.
Set in the lead-up to Founders Day, Bloomquist’s new offering works as a blazing critique on American politics. The townsfolk are getting ready to vote for their new mayor in a local election. Their choices are new recruit Harold Faulkner (Jayce Bartok) or to reelect the serving mayor, Blair Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves). These candidates and their belief systems have divided the town, but when members of each political family start to get murdered, panic sets in and the town descends into chaos.
At the centre of all this mayhem is teenager Allison (Naomi Grace). It is Allison’s friends and classmates that are being killed, positioning her as the final girl. However, rather than follow the normal conventions of the final girl, Allison is kept more to the sidelines, at least for chunks of the narrative. This is not like Scream, a story about one girl; Founders Day opts to follow a town full of people. The change in perspective opens the world up, but in doing so it becomes a little hard to keep track of all of the characters and how they relate to one another. Bloomquist’s approach works as an example of how easy it is to lose sight of the facts and truth during political campaigns, but as an actual design point, it hinders the film’s cohesion slightly.
With more focus on the political race than killings, Founders Day almost plays out as more of a murder-mystery. As suspicion is cast upon everyone in town, there is fun to be had in trying to guess who is involved. The inclusion of a local police chief with a penchant for Columbo mannerisms further pushes Founders Day into whodunit territory. It is however a slasher and so there are several elegant kill sequences. The weapon of choice is a gavel with a hidden knife and it is used to dispatch victims effectively. It is the appearance of the killer that really stands out though. They are clad in a peruke (one of those white wigs that barristers and the like wear) with a wonderfully creepy red face mask. All filmmakers know that the key to a good slasher is the aesthetic of your killer and with this stylish rendition Bloomquist has managed to create an impressively unique visage.
Another well-made and enjoyable romp through a horror favourite, Bloomquist has once again produced what he set out to. The director may output movies in their quantity, but he does so without sacrificing quality. Whatever will he dream up next?
Founders Day
Summary
Another solid genre venture from Erik Bloomquist, Founders Day mixes Scream and Election with exciting results.
Founder’sDay was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2023.
