Pure and precious; that’s Family Movie. Ditch the six degrees—the all-Bacon production directed by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick puts lineage front and center. Despite the namesake prestige involved, Family Movie is unapologetically low-budget, powered by the Bacons’ commitment to one another. It’s their One Cut of the Dead, a sappy genre love letter to the act of filmmaking by creators who adore making movies. It’s also Roger Corman doing X by way of Serial Mom, hardly a serious slasher, running on unfiltered familial sweetness in a late-night cable kind of way (said with appreciation). Kevin Bacon’s version of Ed Wood, supported by those he holds dearest.
Kevin stars as underfunded horror filmmaker Jack Smith, whose legacy is as an indie maverick who makes all his movies with his once-nearly-famous actor wife, Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick), hopeful starlet daughter, Ula (Sosie Bacon), and muay thai metalhead son, Trent (Travis Bacon). Jack’s latest title, Blood Moon, is close to wrapping production on his residential farmland. All that’s left is a climactic sequence where Ula’s sacrificed under a blood-red moon, or so Jack thinks. Instead, dead bodies start piling up around Blood Moon’s production, and it’s up to Jack to get his production back on track before there’s no one left.
It’s perhaps strange to dub a film about bloody massacres as adorable, but that’s Family Movie. There’s a sitcom-y, all-in-the-family bubbliness about the self-referential nature of Dan Beers’ screenplay that the Bacons devour. There’s homestyle jubilance baked into every scene, especially when Kevin and Kyra are platforming their separately successful kin. Travis’ former involvement in the black metal band Black Anvil plays a part in Trent’s arc, while Sosie’s role as the family’s next on-screen star is given this approving pass-the-torch wholesomeness. Kevin and Kyra cherish an experience shared with their children: two parents beaming with pride who want the world to know how talented their children are.
That said, Family Movie is a gory horror-comedy about a hacky horror director and his problematic shoots, living in that gooey-silly 80s straight-to-video slasher territory. Teaching moments involve brutal murders, juxtaposing Kyra’s overly warm and cheery personality as an All-American mamma against knives lodged into skulls, or a wood chipper’s whirring blades. There’s a no-budget spunk to everything, stripping the production down to its emotional core by necessity—but not without sacrificing the bite of a shot-on-video body count flick. Kevin and Kyra display a warmth toward slapstick horror titles made for pennies, standing side by side with filmmakers whose legacies are synonymous with unintended laughs and syrupy fake blood. It’s about the people making the movies, untouched by studio interference, and for the love of the game—because movies like these can only be made by the most dedicated, passionate of filmmakers.
With that approach, in a sandbox of microbudget mayhem, Family Movie becomes a meta-commentary that lives and dies by the very means it’s satirizing. The brightness of its oft-comedic tone is plucking lower-hanging fruits that have been covered before, which can feel a tad repetitive by nature. The psychobilly rockin’ soundtrack—composed by Travis—and overcommitment to many a sinisterly saccharine gag define Family Movie, which can sometimes strike tonal confusion. And, as affable and inviting as the Bacons are as a dysfunctional, death-dealing clan, some of the humor struggles to land. It’s the problem of any horror comedy: balancing laughs with legitimate thrills. Those without a vested interest or diehard dedication to the cheapest depths of horror filmmaking might struggle to absorb the reverence echoing through all the absurdity on screen, especially when opting for the most obvious joke.
However, it’s that “hokiness” to some that makes Family Movie charming. Where else can you see a choreographed Bacon family dance montage as they clean up corpses? Or watch Kevin struggle as a “nobody” in his role, shrugging off his real-world fame? Everything’s a tad too cartoonish, from polo-wearing, golf-cart-driving preps who mock the Bacon’s gothy kids, or John Carroll Lynch as a yokel local who interrupts shoots with his loud chores, but again, that’s all intentional. Sosie runs with the ridiculousness of stumbling upon crime scenes and the conversations with her parents that follow, even as Jack and Elle stay focused on finishing the film without involving the police. It’s over-the-top, down to Jack’s film critic nemesis—Richard Robichaux’s professional hater Ben Perkins—but never from a place of bad faith.
Family Movie brings slop and sincerity to a film made with nothing but Brady Bunch-style vibes… if the Bradys went psycho. Or, if you’re paying attention to the independent horror scene, it reminds me of the Adams family (Hellbender, Hell Hole, Mother of Flies), and the trials they overcome as low, LOW-budget makers bringing their projects to light (sans actual slayings). There’s a ceiling for its humor, and a simplicity to its ideas, but that’s all in line with the film’s core message: make a movie with people you love; ignore the noise. It’s such a nice, pleasant movie about madcap mutilation, even with the graveyard it fills. And, it proves what I’ve been saying forever—everything’s better with Bacon.
Movie Score: 3/5