The 6th Friend

Review by Fatal Follower

Out Now On DVD
Streaming News Soon

The 6th Friend (2019)
Starring: Benjamin Adamson, Chantelle Albers, David Villada, Dominique Swain, Jack Cullison, Jamie Bernadette, Jessica Morris, Matt Clouston, Monique Rosario, Tania Nolan, Tina Cole
Director: Letia Clouston
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 85 min

In this slasher film with a paranormal twist, six college best friends throw their own private graduation party when the stoner of the group orders in a psychedelic from her drug dealer, who sticks around to join in their fun. Drugged and disoriented, the girls’ special night quickly becomes a dark, foggy nightmare of blood and violence.

Five years later, the girls gather together once again in hopes of rekindling that close friendship that they once had, only to find themselves being hunted by who, or what, they do not know.

*Mild Spoilers*

When I think of good horror movies, I never think of movies released from The Asylum. Watchable and entertaining, sure…but not good. They often capitalize on big studio movies, with similar titles and themes, hoping to cash in on the newest “trend” in genre films. Once in awhile they release something off the cuff, which brings us to The 6th Friend, a new slasher film out now on dvd, no streaming release as of yet.

I was shocked at the production value and acting for this release, it was a step up from their usual camp-fare. Overall, it was a polished production, with a decent plot. The story took its time to develop the core group of friends, while also addressing the many facets of trauma. But not all was good, the movie does fall apart for me in the last 10 minutes. Before the ho-him ending, we are given a pretty good modern slasher movie with a throwback kinda setup.

This one starts off with a graduation party that introduces our group of friends, six gals partying their asses off, when a knock at the door brings them trouble. Trouble, in the form of a handsome fella with some acid to drop, and ulterior motives. The “trip” effects were quit fun, but then the movie flashes forward to our lead character aka final girl, Joey (the fantastic Jamie Bernadette) who is all bloody and scared for her life. Turns out, the trip lead to the murder of a certain you know who (the rapey drug dealer with the skull mask on fyi).

Now, flash forward five years, and the girls are getting together at a remote cabin to reconnect and move on from that fateful night of collectively killing the rapist. What they come to learn is that all of them are seeing the masked man, either in their dreams or waking lives. Why is he back from the dead? Or are they experiencing group hysteria from the trauma?

One by one the girls meet the skull masked killer, from stabbings to being burned alive, only one will remain knowing the secret of the 6th friend!

Overall, the movie had a couple brutal death scenes, there is a neck stabbing that’s a bit brutal, but it was one of those cut-away aftermath gore shots, which is fine with a limited budget. The scene with the fire had a few moments of, “ahh its cgi”, but not distracting oddly enough. The slasher wore a decent mask, it can be best described as a skull bursting through a porcelain face…at least I think?…

Where the movie kinda lost me was with the reveal, while I can certainly appreciate a talky explanation for the “whys & hows”, it played out rather awkwardly. It’s a motive done in better slasher movies we’ve all seen, while I can’t fault that, I was a bit disappointed at the direction it took. Especially the last shot, it felt a bit hammy. As a whole, the movie was pretty decent, I dug the setting and the group of characters. If you are ok with 90’s teen slashers, you’ll be ok with the ending, it has its campy moments of fun either way.

Oh, before I forget -> Jamie Bernadette (4/20 Massacre) not only stars in the film as the final girl, but wrote the screenplay too. I would say Jamie has got her head in the 1990’s post-Scream clouds with the 6th Friend, and I’m all in because of it. Not all is glum though, there were also some funny scenes of the girls bonding during the night along with some quippy dialogue that had me rooting for this group of friends. Besides Jamie as writer/final girl, the whole cast did a superb job too! Oh, and check out 4/20 Massacre , another great throwback slasher, circa 1980’s in tone.

I’m gonna give this one a solid 6/10