Exclusive: 'Red Letter Day' Clip Offers A Bloody Tease Of A Suburban Battle Royale
Ah, suburbia. Where better to unleash a bloody massacre that chucks any sentiment of loving thy neighbor into a woodchipper? Cameron Macgowan's feature debut Red Letter Day tells the story of a special event where letters in red envelopes are mailed to every citizen of Aspen Ridge, with instructions to kill a selected target or be killed. Early trailers indicate cul-de-sac warfare of the goriest variety, and now /Film has an exclusive clip that confirms Macgowan's violent affair.In the video below, you'll catch up with divorcee Melanie (Dawn Van de Schoot) who finds herself stuck abiding by bloodthirsty "Red Letter Day" rules. Between Melanie and safety is a knife-wielding man of his household. From here...well, why don't you see for yourself. Check out an exclusive snippet of the carnage that awaits. And as the very premise of the movie suggests, this clip is R-rated and NSFW.
Red Letter Day Clip
Like I said, Red Letter Day looks *gnarly* and aggressive. Within the duo of above vile acts we glimpse not only knife slashes and punctured eyes, but an artery stab through roasted chicken meat? Macgowan's not just employing a comical sight gag, but the filmmaker maneuvers around obvious budgetary restrictions. Using the cooked bird to cover any kind of protrusion of steel through skin avoids any necessary effects designs, finished off by the gushing stream of blood down Lewis' (Michael Tan) button-down. Then we cut to Tim's (Kaeleb Zain Gartner) broken shin, fractured bone visible, followed by a finale neck pierce? Methinks promotional consideration really wants to hammer home Macgowan's eye for brutality.Fight choreography might pull some punches, but Macgowan seems to be cognizant of the limitations at play. Where Melanie's defensive key swipe may barely make contact, the visceral gruesomeness overcompensates. Sometimes, as a creator, you have to pick and choose where efforts are fixated – especially when pulling together ambitious indies. I'd say a small-town battle royal with a presumed inflated body count checks that "ambitious" box, and it seems like appreciators of do-it-yourself SFX will get the most out of Red Letter Day.Check out the film's full synopsis below:
While adjusting to a new life in a quiet suburban community, a recently divorced mother (Dawn Van de Schoot), and her two teens receive mysterious red letters instructing them each to kill or be killed. As the bloodshed begins, they find themselves in a race against time to protect the ones they love from the people they thought they knew.
Red Letter Day hits limited theaters on November 1, 2019, and then will be available on digital and Blu-ray November 5, 2019.