Double Date
For those who like gore, Benjamin Barfoot’s Double Date fits the bill; if you’re squeamish, the fact that it’s a hilarious tongue-in-cheek comedy will help keep you from covering your eyes.
Completely camp, this art-house piece is a clever satire of the blood and guts B movie genre combined with a good laugh at the perils of dating in contemporary London. When two hapless, inexperienced lads meet alluring sinister sisters Kitty (Kelly Wenham) and Lulu (Georgia Groome) – who are somehow instantly swept off their feet by the guys’ awkward pick-up lines – the men can’t believe their luck but have no idea what they’re in for. The female serial killer duo has a taste for luring men to their blood-soaked demise.
With much drinking and carousing around the city, the couples spend time with Jim’s (Danny Morgan) devoutly religious family and Alex’s (Michael Socha) down-and-out father (Dexter Fletcher). The craziness begins when the foursome visit the girls’ stately home in the countryside where occult mischief brews and events take a turn for the grizzly. Since the feature opens with a gasp-inducing murder scene, the audience knows what’s coming.
The performances are terrific: Morgan (also the writer) plays the short-on-luck Jim with aplomb and Socha’s idiotic, sex-obsessed Alex is very effectively portrayed. Wenham and Groome are superb as the scary siblings. Direction and styling by Barfoot are commendable, and the soundtrack by Goat is outstanding. Scenes are creative and fun, especially the slasher segments, which, although macabre, are outlandish and inventive.
Despite being extremely funny in parts, some of the jokes seem a bit worn and the dialogue somewhat stilted. Granted that the film is a spoof of the camp horror genre, and so a certain tackiness adds realism, but it could have been refined in terms of originality.
For its sheer craziness and ingeniously morbid parody, however, this movie is worth a watch. A wild, energetic, uproarious and entertaining romp into the realm of the ghoulish and gruesome, Double Date could become a cautionary joke about picking up strangers in London bars.
Catherine Sedgwick
Double Date is released nationwide on 13th October 2017.
Watch the trailer for Double Date here:
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