Backstage Pass (2006)

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Made in the style of '80s slasher flicks with a twist of classic Hitchcock, Backstage Pass concerns an up and coming rock band Liquid Zoo who's past finally catches up when them...

Liquid Zoo is playing their final show before going into seclusion to finish their single. After the show, they are to wind their way up into the Rocky Mountains to a studio where they will be holed up for a few days. Little do they know that a tragic accident from their past is coming back to haunt them. One of their roadies is the first to go after the show, but after promising police that they will return the following Monday, the band still heads to the mountains. As a large storm breaks off all forms of communication and transportation, the band, their girlfriends, band manager, tour manager and tour assistant find themselves stuck in the cabin with a ruthless killer with no hope of help arriving...

Backstage Pass is a pretty straightforward slasher flick...a bunch of good-looking kids are stuck in a secluded place, cut off from the world, as a killer picks them off one-by-one. The performances are pretty spot-on (except for some instances of serious overacting) and what you would expect from a slasher flick, so no complaints there. The story is typical, but yet fun in that slasher-sense where you know what's going to happen but still find the ride enjoyable.

As for the highlight of all slasher films - the killings - we get some pretty enjoyable ones here. My personal favorite was death by drumstick! The rest of the victims all die in a variety of ways, but never quite live up to that first kill (though death by guitar looked pretty wicked as well).

The film is rife with plot holes (why, oh why didn't the killer come under suspicion earlier in the film? How did the police not connect the killer to the band's past?), which were bothersome, but I suppose expected as per most slasher flicks.

The Hitchcockian twist might surprise some genre-newbies (like my friend, whom I watched the film with) but most experienced horror fanatics will see it a mile away. It is painfully obvious who the killer is, even after a few red herrings and an event that might throw some off the killer's trail.

Still, this independent film has a lot to offer and is most definitely a cut above all the Hollywood bullshit remakes that have been coming out. Backstage Pass is recommended for those that crave old school '80s slasher flicks.