Advertising \u201cFounder Days\u201d as a \u201cbold political slasher\u201d gives too much credit to the movie itself, which follows a post-\u201cScream\u201d killing spree that precedes a small town\u2019s mayoral election. The movie\u2019s sense of politics boils down to a trite post-Wes-Craven moral relativity, where the incumbent mayor and her obnoxious opponent both sloganeer and campaign in ways that make them seem inauthentic and performative. The rest of the movie thankfully focuses on hormonal teen protagonists, whose dialogue could admittedly be more polished and whose deaths could definitely be grislier. A couple of pedal-to-the-floor melodramatic twists suggest that \u201cFounders Days\u201d might\u2019ve been a bolder or just meaner genre movie, but its toothless satire, like its timid horror drama, sadly doesn\u2019t cut it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Political antagonism never comes to a full head in the sleepy American everytown of Fairwood, where Mayor Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves) prepares to fight for her public office against Harold Faulkner (Jayce Bartok), her mid-simmer hothead competitor. Fairwood\u2019s the sort of place where young lovers commit themselves to each other with a gym lock on the local foot bridge. Somehow, a small and neatly bifurcated demonstration has broken out just in front of the Fairwood jewel box movie theater. Both Harold and the Mayor\u2019s supporters are picketing each other, though it\u2019s hard to say why beyond their pandering lawn signs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This contest of wills ends in a deadlock, since maintaining the status quo for selfish reasons is apparently the greatest sin. Before then, a series of bloody murders up-end the lives of Fairwood\u2019s angsty teenagers. Insecure Melissa (Olivia Nikkanen) dies first, right after she and her cypher of a partner Allison (Naomi Grace) clip a lock to the town bridge. Her attacker wears a Carnival mask, dresses like a judge, and kills with a gavel. Targeting Melissa certainly seems political since she\u2019s Harold\u2019s daughter, and also the sister of low-boil hothead Adam (Devin Druid).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adam and Allison\u2019s post-murder bond only says so much, particularly about Adam and his creators\u2019 intentions. He ostensibly defies expectations, being the son of a wheedling politician. Adam\u2019s also supposedly a jealous \u201cIvory League\u201d type, according to sore winner Rob (Tyler James White), who\u2019s now dating Lilly (Emilia McCarthy), Adam\u2019s ex and the Mayor\u2019s daughter. Adam briefly locks horns with Lilly during a mock policy debate, hosted by genial teacher Mr. Jackson (William Russ). But sparks don\u2019t really fly between the former couple beyond that scene. Besides, a surprising accidental death involving Adam makes it somewhat hard to tell how we\u2019re supposed to feel about him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Advertising \u201cFounder Days\u201d as a \u201cbold political slasher\u201d gives too much credit to the movie itself, which follows a post-\u201cScream\u201d killing spree that precedes a small town\u2019s mayoral election. The movie\u2019s sense of politics boils down to a trite post-Wes-Craven moral relativity, where the incumbent mayor and her obnoxious opponent both sloganeer and campaign in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[33,48,47,37],"class_list":["post-1317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horror-movies","tag-comedy","tag-horror","tag-mystery","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}