It's week 3 of Halloween month! And after watching 2 sub-par "supposed to be scary but actually aren't" Horror films and experiencing some erm... technical glitches yesterday... I decided to switch to right the other end of the spectrum and choose something completely silly and stupid but still spooky... And I'll be honest with you, I think I've knocked it right out of the park.
Killer Sofa, a Comedy / Horror film that the second I found, I knew I had to watch, is a 2019 movie from our friends in New Zealand and was apparently produced by about 6 different companies?! Seriously the opening minute is just logos and vignettes?! As the title might suggest it genuinely is about a sofa that kills people, although if we're gonna be pedantic it's more of an armchair, or recliner as it's continuously referred to in the film.
Inspector Gravy, yup that's his name (played by Jed Brophy) and Inspector Grape, I assume these are supposed to be tongue-in-cheek names... are investigating the murder of Francesca's (Piimio May) ex-boyfriend. Later that day she gets a recliner delivered that immediately sets about killing her flatmate / boyfriend, her creepy obsessive neighbour and bandmate, and even has a go at her best friend Maxie (Nathalie Morris) before it finally gets put out of it's misery by Gravy. But it transpires the recliner was possessed all this time! And the vengeful spirits of former lovers and practicing voodoo erm... people... from the 1800's possess Francesca and Gravy and are finally re-united in modern times.
This was supposed to crap. Like genuine crap. It was supposed to be goofy and stupid, but it transpired actually being quite a clever, if not completely outrageous, idea. And it was a lot of fun. It had it's stupid moments; being watched out the window by a sofa, being stalked by a sofa, but it wasn't so downright camp that it was just silly. It actually had some substance; I fully expected a film of people getting munched on by a sofa, but it wasn't and it did a good job of adopting the 1950's / 1960's creature feature approach into modern times. The cinematography and the sound really built the suspense in a meaningful way... for a man... about to be attacked... by a sofa...
Unfortunately the acting was mostly pretty wooden, and slightly "act-by-numbers". Jed Brophy was pretty crap, but Piimio May did a good job for the most part as Francesca, being convincing for the majority of time and lapsing only in places. Nobody else really stood out for me. The pacing was very quick, and the film got straight to the point; this is a murderous armchair, but there was at least enough build and backstory to flesh out the development of the plot sandwiched in between.
So did it have me on the edge of my seat? (see what I did there?) Well no. But if you fancy a completely bonkers, but a lot of fun film about some unhappy upholstery, then, well first have a look at yourself in the mirror and really think about your life... but if you still have that urge for fun and furious furnishings, then Killer Sofa might be the remedy you're after. 3 out of 5.
