The town of Fairwood could be any town. We open as Mayor Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves) fights for her office in the upcoming re-election, campaigning against the blowhard, overbearing Harold Faulkner (Jayce Bartok). This political rivalry has divided the town, leading to altercations in the streets. But the violence amps up when a mysterious killer dressed in a Founders Day mask murders Melissa (Olivia Nikkanen), Harold Faulkner’s daughter, in front of her girlfriend Allison (Naomi Grace). As the bodies start piling up, Allison sets out to discover who the killer is while trying to stay alive.

It’s clear from watching Founders Day that director and co-writer Erik Bloomquist (along with his brother Carson) has a clear affinity for the slasher genre. In a wink-and-nod fashion, many of the tropes are referenced and played out, often in a subtly humorous way not unlike Scream and it’s self-reflexive nature. Founders Day takes the meta slasher conceit and spins it in a direction that acts as a mirror to our current divisive political climate. Structurally it is a bit odd, having a false climax about halfway through before layering on further twists in the tale. What the film does though well is provide us with a varied cast of eccentric characters to play off of and ultimately go toward the body count. For the slasher fan, we do get several tasty kills, and while some of them are rather muted and not terribly over-the-top, one kill in particular in a theater is sure to make at least a few horror fans out there wince. Where Founders Day missteps though is in its handling of the political satire of the story. Much of the time, it feels just a little too simplistic and on-the-nose to garner any real clever insight. I could also see the Agatha Christie-esque revealing of “the killer” to be needlessly convoluted and tiring for some, particularly since it involves several fairly long exposition dumps that drag at the pacing of the film. Some of the cast also feels a bit one-note like the character of Adam (Devin Druid) who seems to only have one expression, that of dull, brooding anger. but several other cast members bring fun to their roles quite well like Amy Hargreaves as the sassy mayor, Jayce Bartok as her MAGA opponent and Adam Weppler as the Dewey-esque Deputy Miller. Naomi Grace in the lead role as the “final girl” acquits herself well also but is really given the more thankless straight-man role, reacting to all the craziness happening around her. The film’s acting in general in pitched to a feverish level much of the time, reveling in the teeth-gnashing melodrama of the line delivery, which gives it a kitschy charm that makes for a fun party movie screening.

Dark Sky Films has given Founders Day a very nice digital transfer with no observed distortion or disruption in the image quality. It’s a dark film with lots of night scenes, so having those deep, detailed black levels is important, and the disc delivers quite well on that count. For audio, we get both 5.1 and 2.0 stereo tracks, and both sound quite nice with the 5.1 track getting a solid workout during the kill scenes. The disc also includes several extras. First, we have an audio commentary with director/writer Erik & writer/editor Carson Bloomquist as well as DP Mike Magilnick, and it’s a solid commentary with lots of behind-the-scenes info about the cast, crew, shooting locations and other anecdotes about the filming of the movie. It also includes a short called “Blair and Harold Visit DC” that acts as a Borat-esque staged debate of our film’s political rivals in front of the Capitol Mall in D.C. while hapless passers-by look on. It’s mildly amusing but seems like a publicity stunt more than anything. We also get a timelapse video of a production diary, showing the minute-by-minute on-set dealings in the town center sped up. We also get a Regal Mystery Monday Intro (which I didn’t realize was even a thing until recently since we don’t have Regal Cinemas in my area), a concept trailer with commentary on it, and the teaser and theatrical trailers. All in all, a nice set of extras that explore the making of Founders Day pretty well.

Founders Day isn’t as clever as Scream or as slavishly faithful and brutal to the slashers of old as Thanksgiving, but it’s still a fun, amusing and at times viscerally exciting flick that offers a healthy dose of teens getting killed off with a bit of a political commentary to chew on.