By Simon Thompson
Canadian filmmaking duo Brett M Butler and Jason G Butler’s The Last Anniversary is what would happen if you took The Shining and turned it into a tedious, soapy, hour and a half psy-op, with one of the most irritating, vapid cast of characters with whom spending any length of time is akin to watching a 24 hour Entourage marathon while being hung upside down. While The Last Anniversary is stunning to look at in places, that alone cannot overcome its myriad of flaws.
The plot of the film takes place on the last evening before the world is due to end, as a couple named Tom and Aubrey (Kenneth Northfield and Jesse McQueen), decide to take refuge in the hotel they were married in ten years ago, which is now abandoned. Gathering up all the various wedding guests from the big do ten years ago, everyone present decides to have one last party before the inevitable. But this planned piss up has one ulterior motive, as Tom and Aubrey want to find out what happened to a bridesmaid that disappeared from that night ten years previously.
The Butler brother’s characterisation of the cast can be distilled into two distinct boxes. In box one, everybody speaks as if they are the token zany character in some godawful Chuck Lorre sitcom trying to force a catchphrase, and in box two everyone is either arguing or getting ready to start an argument over something stupid and trivial. Because there is no middle ground between these two boxes, the characters outstay their welcome in record time. As a result you do not care whether they any of them survive or die, and instead wish for Frank Warren to show up and put them in some kind of Thunderdome style fight to the death on pay per view.
To be fair, the cinematography is excellent. The Butlers make full use of the film’s frozen winter setting, and when combined with a warm colour palette of autumnal browns and red for the interior shots, and shades of wintery blue for the exterior shots it creates a beautiful study in contrasts.
The Last Anniversary is a masterclass in how not to make a horror movie, As you continue to watch you get the impression that the Butler brothers are thinking they are doing a knowing modern spin on Kubrick’s The Shining, when in reality their homage is closer to the 1997 TV mini series version.
Bloody Flicks 