Review: The Shower (IHSFF)

Alex Drummond's The Shower is a brutally funny, fast-paced horror comedy. At a skimpy 78 minutes, the film moves so quickly and through so many laughs and kills that you won't fully know what hit you until a later.

Starring a terrific ensemble cast, including Adam Karell, Andy Hoff, Rachel Drummond and Rob Norton, The Shower takes place in one afternoon at a baby shower. We meet several of the key players at the party in these stylish, freeze-frame bios. Drummond assembles all types including an obvious heroic type, a failing writer needing to prove himself, a stuck up bitch and a clown. Then something happens that sets off an unexplained chain of events that causes some people to go nuts, and I mean really nuts. As the friends try to figure out what's happening and what to do, they must survive constant attacks from crazed outsiders.

The Shower smartly builds tension from the get-go. We hear sound bites and see brief clues that something bad is going on but the film distracts this with an edgy sense of humor. In fact, the film may not sound hilarious but let me assure you that it is a riot. The cast sells each of these characters and the script pulls out so many rich jokes out of the interplay. As shit hits the fan, the laughs are more sparse but hit at just the right moments allowing for moments of levity amongst the bloody chaos.

The Shower excels at everything it tries. A few performances are a bit big but overall the ensemble cast is great. The film has a visual sophistication for something clearly shot on a small budget. The filmmakers have wisely written a single location film without it feeling like a low-budget trick. With it's mix of shocks and laughs and its quick pacing, The Shower is a horror-comedy you will want to check out.