G(l)ory Days

A couple of retired, over the hill, serial killers, take some time out in their lake house, when some young, fresh, naïve girls come camping in the area, giving them the opportunity to prove once and for all who the most prolific killer is.

Hulk (Fletcher) and Turtleneck (Van Swearingen) are past it. Their glory days are behind them and they’ve retired into old age disgracefully. Inside their lake house, however, old trophies and mounts of parts of their previous victims are hanging on the wall. The nearby lake was also the scene of one of Hulk’s most famous massacres, which was never solved despite the fact that one victim got away, and the two of them now enjoy hiding out at the scene of the old crime.

Into this remote scenario plops the insufferable influencer/YouTuber/star in her own head, Lane (Fierro), and her girlfriend, Heather (Sanchez), whose mum turns out to be the one that got away all those years ago. The girls are there to get some sort of closure from the eventual recent death of Heather’s mom, and to slay some personal demons while they’re at it. Little do they know, however, that there’s a bet on concerning the taking of their lives, and that Hulk is going to get himself another bite of the cherry, that is if Turtleneck doesn’t beat him to it.

So, after a short nap for the elderly serial killers, and a small introduction to the ineffectual local police force (Fernandez) for the would-be victims, everybody is rounded up ready for a little bit of slashing to begin. It doesn’t take long for the blood to start flying, along with several body parts, too, and we are all party to an enjoyable chase around the woods and the lakeside, as the elderly homicidal maniacs try to get their kills.

Presented as a comedy horror, G(l)ory Days owes more of its humour to the slapstick, infantile jokes of Scary Movie 1-6(2000-2026), than to the tongue-in-cheek satire of Scream 1-7 (1996-2026). The comedy is definitely the driving force of this near half-hour film, more so than the horror or the gore, which does get equal billing, but which is still presented in a humorous way. Written by Adam Pasen and Sammy Horowitz, we are given all the necessary introductions and backstory to the characters as we go along, keeping us invested in their story, and somewhat scared for their lives, as the killing spree begins. While there may not be too much to go on, and a few inconsistencies and questionable plot points along the way, there’s more than enough for the story we are witnessing, and for the fun gory bits to make sense.

Behaving an awful lot like Roald Dahl’s, The Twits, in the way they deal with each other and try to nobble each others’ chances, G(l)ory Days has to go some way to not let its characters descend into total farce as it goes along. Thankfully, the direction from Cory DeMeyers, as well as the editing from Jeff McEvoy, keeps everything moving at a good pace and ramps up the tension in the exciting moments, while Alex Weinstein’s score keeps things bright and lively and fun, even when the killing begins. DeMeyers’ experience as a stunt performer allows him to get a certain measure of movement and flexibility from the characters, as they hack and slash, or evade the oncoming blows, and there is a definite level of panache that comes through from the killing that might not have been available otherwise.

G(l)ory Days comes through as a solid comedy horror that does exactly what it says on the tin. With an impressive level of production behind them, including a brilliant animated title sequence and some truly fabulous gore, the filmmakers seem to have gotten exactly what they wanted from the film, meaning that the audience gets to enjoy it all along with them, even if we have seen something like it a few times before.