Drunken recall can be a bit messy, can’t it? Well, the upcoming horror comedy Buzzkill intends to crank that concept up to 11. This Tubi Original is directed by Jem Garrard (R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead) from a script by Suzanne Keilly (2021’s Slumber Party Massacre).
Buzzkill stars Siena Agudong (Sidelined: The QB and Me), Brec Bassinger (Final Destination: Bloodlines), and Aliyah’s Interlude (English Teacher). It follows a group of sorority sisters who become trapped with a murderer. Their only chance at survival is Nora’s (Agudong) tipsy memories, which hold the clues to identifying who killed their friends. The problem is she can only remember them when she’s drunk.
Ryan Plachcinski, Haley Wiseman, Adam Friedlander, and Tebogo Maila are attached to produce. Agudong, Garrard, Keilly, and Lance Samuels will executive produce.
Buzzkill
“Every day, it felt like we were coming to set just to make a movie that would make us giggle,” Agudong tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And now having the film come out, it feels like we are reliving our inside jokes but with a much larger group of friends.”
Even though they had a blast making the film, there was some serious homework involved beforehand. “When I first met with our director, Jem Garrard, to talk about Buzzkill, they gave me a watch list full of horror classics and told me to get familiar with the genre tropes because we planned to push the limits of each one. So on the day, we were all given so much freedom to play, and that was the most exciting part.”
Because we all know you must learn the rules before you can break them. We think horror fans have seen enough inept homages by people who didn’t understand the genre. Camp is a lot more fun when it knows what it’s referencing.
“I loved Suzanne’s script and was excited by her spin on the slasher genre,” Garrard explains. “Nora isn’t your traditional final girl. She screws up constantly and is spectacularly ill-equipped for what’s happening around her, but we never stop rooting for her. Siena has incredible comic instincts and brings so much heart to Nora. I couldn’t have asked for a better ensemble. Everyone brought such a distinct energy to their character, and I’m excited for audiences to meet this lovable, dysfunctional sorority.”
To be fair, plenty of final girls were seemingly ill-suited to the job, and them making mistakes is a genre staple. We think Nora will be in good company.
Buzzkill will hit the ad-supported streamer Tubi on September 25th.
