Buzzkill Review: Fun Sorority Slasher Comedy Subverts the Final Girl Trope

Spooky season is here, which means it’s time to pick your horror genre of choice. For slasher lovers, Buzzkill is a new horror-comedy on Tubi about a group of sorority girls targeted by a masked killer.

For fans of the genre, the premise might sound familiar. Sororities have proven to be ripe hunting grounds on screen in films like the aptly named The House on Sorority Row and Sorority House Massacre, and Black Christmas. Scream 2 even features a sequence at a sorority house.

That’s where the comedy part of this horror-comedy comes into play. Unlike the stories you’ve seen before, this one has a hilarious twist. Written by Suzanne Keilly and directed by Jem Garrard, Buzzkill follows party-girl Nora (Siena Agudong ) who witnesses the murder of Sigma president Sarah (Frances Sholto-Douglas).

Unfortunately, Nora can only remember details from the murder when she’s “drunk Nora,” who leaves written clues on her body. She must rebel against her sorority sisters who are fed up with her behavior and get drunk in order to figure out who is the killer.

It’s Scream Queens meets Memento, creating a fun thrill ride with plenty of gnarly kills and killer jokes.

Agudong, who also stars in the upcoming Carrie, is charming as the hot mess Nora, who despite her party girl status, is clever and determined. She’s at odds with Kendell, the new de facto Sigma president played by an unhinged Brec Bassinger using an extremely bizarre attempt at an Oklahoman accent (I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she was going for over-the-top).

The smartest thing the film does is subvert the “final girl” trope that to be a survivor you have to be a saintly, virginal figure. In any other movie, Nora would be the first to go. In Buzzkill, it’s up to her to save them all and avenge Sarah.

It’s a sharp script that doesn’t try to make moral judgements and just lets college girls be messy and sometimes mean without being complete caricatures. It’s also not afraid to get weird, largely thanks to Nora taking a mescaline pill when she can’t get ahold of alcohol at first.

The campus crawl setting, filled with costumed sorority and frat members, creates a hectic neon environment for the killer to operate in, keeping the film visually interesting and fresh. The movie is bubblegum and never actually scary, but that doesn’t stop the kills from being inventive: a broken vodka bottle, a spirit stick, a pledge paddle… you get the idea.

A few jokes don’t work, like the bumbling campus security, but for the most part it’s timeless college humor. There are some modern references like TikTok, but it doesn’t fall into the trap of many streaming movies trying too hard to appeal to a young audience by being saddled with contemporary references.

The soundtrack, which also reflects the timelessness, is full of bangers mixing old and new hits like “Kiss Me Deadly” by Lita Ford and “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan

Buzzkill makes the perfect “pregame” to ease yourself into your horror watching this Halloween season.

What did you think of Buzzkill? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!

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Buzzkill is streaming now on Tubi. 

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