Party Hard Die Young (2018) User Reviews

Party now - die soon

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 10 May 2019]

So why shouldn't Austria make a horror movie that is filled with cliches and should make you as a viewer cringe almost all the way through? Does the question sound like an insult? It really was not meant to be. Just stating what is apparent. And as you can see by my score/rating, I didn't mind as much as others probably do.

So while some characters act like they don't remember what they did (last summer), there is at least one person who obviously does remember. Sceam if you can - be it of joy or just because you feel like it. Or just because you're getting the references. Predictable and all that - the real question is though: do you care?

Paranoia and fear take over from good old Molly and Lucy

[eelen-seth · 6/10 · 5 July 2019]

The newest Shudder Original Party Hard, Die Young could be best described as "I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Sorority Row". It tries a bit too hard to live up to the slasher genre, instead of being just its own thing, which makes everything look too familiar and predictable one too many times. The only difference is, while being outside at a beautiful location, these kids are still on their phones. Finish 'em.

Party Hard, Die Young is an Austrian teen slasher drama about a group of careless classmates who go on a trip to celebrate their recent graduation at Croatia's X-Jam, a music festival on one of the islands. Lots of drinking and partying is on the agenda, but after one of Julia's friends goes missing after a fight on the dance floor, paranoia and fear take over from good old Molly and Lucy. As soon as she starts to receive cryptic photos from her missing friends' phones, she realises the "greatest party of their lives" is nothing more than a nightmare they can't escape from.

This high-school-drama isn't anything new, but the setting is original as it takes place at a music festival. Bright flashing lights and sauna parties take the killings to newly explored environments in the genre, but the way some meet their destiny isn't that refreshing. A lot of the slasher moments pass by within a minute, which doesn't really help keeping up the level of suspense. And for fellow horror fans like me, the way our killer stomps around and finishes the students seems highly influenced by late '90/'00s slasher- and torture porn-franchises Scream and Saw respectively. The gore is there, but without any suspense, it's nothing more than a puddle of blood.

Elisabeth Wabitsch, who plays Julia, is the star of the film and well cast. She brings a certain innocent, yet scream queen kind of flair to the screen that none of the other supporting characters have. When thinking of the rest of the cast, it's very textbook. Lots of cliches, no one really makes an effort to sell the part or look scared being chased by a masked killer.

The production design and imagery didn't feel like a European film at all. The vibrant colours of the stage lights all over the island against the darkness (since most of the more interesting scenes in the film take place at night) bring a unique style to this movie, that I haven't seen before. Fun fact and definitely noteworthy: director Dominik Hartl shot footage at X-Jam to mix it into the film's aesthetic to have it feel as if these killings were really happening. As far as the pacing of the film goes, there is a sense of slowing down in the second half where it should actually keep your attention and go full speed ahead to the final act. This never happens and makes the whole thing implode into a meaningless pit of despair.

Party Hard, Die Young is nothing more than a teen-scream slasher film, and that's okay. Austrian cinema meets Hollywood. Note to the director: stay true to your style, because you have a unique eye on European cinema. Stay seated while the credits roll, there's a little extra wink to a certain death, at the start of the end credits.

Review by Seth Eelen for novastreamnetwork

Overly mediocre

[rivertam26 · 5/10 · 12 July 2020]

Shudder's latest entry is a lackluster mix of 90s slasher cliches. Although it has some good ideas as well as some creepy moments. It's a little dragged out with one note characters and performances. In fact the best thing about it is the stylish way it's shot. It's plot is simple as a group of friends do something naughty and pay for it a year later. I wish I could say something solid about it but its just not great, it is however not awful just overly mediocre.

5/10

Mother of clichées.

[Patient444 · 4/10 · 23 April 2020]

You know that feeling, when you're trying to really like a movie, especially in order to encourage foreign cinema, but whatever you do, it's just not working out? Well, Party Hard Die Young is the perfect example of such a situation, because it goes by the book, a book written many decades ago, and it sticks to it page by page without any courage whatsoever in order to show some originality.

After minute 25 it was easy to anticipate exactly what was going to happen, and I got that right by the letter, something that others will do the same for sure, especially if they are horror fans. Anyway, the acting wasn't bad, the dialogue could have been improved, but the execution, the reveal, all of these were elements I've seen too many times before.

It is rather hard to recommend Party Hard Die Young because it is a weak versions of far better movies, so I do believe you could look elsewhere and find something more entertaining. You could even try Cut Off 2018, that one manages to deliver some mystery and tension to it.

Cheers!

I don't get the love

[haskel-72951 · 5/10 · 29 October 2019]

This is an average teen slasher flick. Nothing more. Have the folks giving it such high marks never seen one of these done right before? Nothing original, nothing special. It's ok, that's it.

Boring!!!!!!! Only 4 people die out of a huge cast of nearly a dozen (no spoilers)

[mjanssens26 · 2/10 · 25 February 2020]

Great looking and large cast, great location but this is supposed to be a horror movie?! 4 people die out of a cast of nearly a dozen main characters. This does not give away anything other than to tell you Shudder needs to create better horror movies on their "exclusive to Shudder" list. You could've had ten deaths and made the movie entertaining and fast paced but instead it's another snoozefest slasher film where barely anything happens. Gorgeous looking cast wasted on what may have become a great slasher with more effort.

I love shaky cam horror so so much and the party scenes were sweet!

[UniqueParticle · 7/10 · 6 July 2019]

So hard for my attention to keep up with a Foreign subtitled film but this was pretty good for what it was! As always a bunch of dumb people making mistakes being clumsy and partying around an unknown killer -- not bad though. The kills were sufficient and disturbingly awesome; Shudder has a bunch of hit or misses this is at least above average.

Austria goes Hollywood...not

[akrahn-56474 · 1/10 · 22 February 2019]

The whole story is just a melting pot of every slasher cliche you can possibly find. Its boring, its predictable and the whole ending is just some vigilante justice crap in an extremly sexist way. 11/10 would recommend to use hard drugs to forget this movie.

Searching for cliches? Dont go any further!

[lol-36167 · 6/10 · 20 January 2021]

While keeping the tension slightly high during the movie, there a too many cliches to take it really seriously. Still its quite entertaining though. If you look for some naive teenagers party hard with austrian dialect this is your thing. The slasher scenes are quite hard with some rape too. Not for the faint hearted.

Can't you kill each other at home?

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 12 May 2020]

High school students graduate. They go off to an island where they drink, dance, and get poorly dubbed. I have seen old Japanese films that had better dubbing. Kids go missing, one dies in an accident, and PLOT SPOILER it was all about (wait for it) a game of truth or dare they played months ago. It was mediocre to begin with and that just stabbed the film in the heart. English speaking countries flooded the market with these films, some I liked, but this is too little too soon.

Guide: F-word. Brief sex. Brief Nudity (Alexandra Schmidt)

This is an excellent slasher

[theundertakercomicstore · 8/10 · 31 January 2022]

Very good cast, it preserves the mystery until the end and the last scene has something of that new comedy/horror genre.

Special for fans of the subgenre.

An okay slasher/whodunit from Austria!

[hanhoun · 6/10 · 19 December 2020]

Hundreds of European teens spend summer break partying on a small Croatian island, including a group of friends and classmates from am Austrian school, who are hunted down by a mysterious killer. Since the invention of cellphones you have to be quite creative to make a slasher film. This is where I have a problem with this movie, there were a few instances when the victims could have easily called or texted for help yet the reason for not doing so were quite lame . The movie was also a bit too talky. Yet, I think it was not that bad as there are dozens of horrible modern slashers out there, this one was engaging, with creative kills and not too bad acting!

Die, "Party Hard Die Young," Die.

[FieCrier · 4/10 · 26 November 2019]

Credit to American video streaming services for picking up foreign movies, but this was a fairly unremarkable one - a by-the-numbers slasher. Characters were mostly indistinguishable. Motive was a common one for the subgenre. Police and security presence for a huge party seemed unrealistically small, particularly with one death after another. Some credit for the deaths, but when that's the main thing a horror movie has in its favor, that's disappointing.

Biring

[differentguy94 · 1/10 · 22 April 2020]

I like the atmosphere but the story not that strong ..

A fun vacation turns into a nightmare for a group of teens in Dominick Hartl's meta-slasher

[mwilson1976 · 5/10 · 29 April 2020]

A fun vacation for a group of teenage friends to an island resort in Croatia turns into a nightmare when they are targeted by a masked murderer who refuses to forget what they did last summer in director Dominick Hartl's meta-slasher, a throwback to Wes Craven's Scream and the glut of self aware horror movies that followed in its wake. This movie offers a fresh spin on things, incorporating modern trappings such as social media and apps into the plot which will appeal to today's tech savvy teens, and was filmed on location during a huge annual EDM festival for high school seniors throughout Europe. Thomas W. Kiennast's paradise nightclub cinematography also gives it glossy look that makes the movie feel like an American movie rather than a European one.

not for me

[trashgang · 2/10 · 10 July 2020]

This one is filed under slasher so I plugged it in to see what it was all about. Great cinemagraphy that for sure. And that's the only positive thing for me.

Slow building with a lot of parties attending but when the killer comes in it's low based on blood, not even gory at all. Stupid conversations.

It's okay for teens to see this wiith all the booze, banging and partying. Further this doesn't offer a lot, the end when it's all cleared out even there it's to slow.

Not for me this one

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Austrian slasher fun!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 15 July 2019]

Any time I hear the phrase "in the tradition of the best post-Scream slashers," I get worried that I'm going to completely hate a movie. However, this 2018 Austrian effort - known there as The Last Party of Your Life - defied that title and all the worries that it brought with it. This movie feels closer to the slasher's Italian absentee father, the giallo, as its look, lighting and even appropriation of modern dance music within the narrative structure of those films makes total sense. It also owes plenty to I Know What You Did Last Summer, which owes a lot to Terror Train and Slaughter High.

Julia and her entire class have just graduated high school and taken a trip to Austria's X Fest, which takes place on an island. Days of drinking, drugging and promiscuity form the backdrop to friendships being tested and a horrible secret that will cost more than one of these teens their life.

Directed by Dominik Hartl (Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies) is making a cover version of American slashers, but he remembers something that his domestic contemporaries have forgotten - how to build tension and fear within the actual stalk before the slash. I also love that this movie takes a bite out of the current generation, who keep partying despite the mounting evidence that someone is out there with a grudge and a horrifying need to obliterate them. This is also a movie that is enhanced by modern technology instead of being hindered by it.

With neon hues and foggy backdrops that echo the past of the genre while racing toward its future, I found a lot to love in this film. The only downside for some may be the dubbing, but Shudder offers the film in its original language if you have an issue with that. If you've watched enough Italian horror, a silly voice speaking dialogue isn't going to stop you.

Euro-Party Slasher Flick

[jfgibson73 · 5/10 · 11 August 2021]

I'd say a 5 is about right for this teen slasher. It's about some French kids going to a music festival and getting killed off. Not too memorable, but colorful to look at. The ending was probably the most satisfying part. I have to also mention a very morbid shot during the end credits that was easily the most striking thing in the film. Very skippable.

Great Set Up For A Slasher

[icocleric · 7/10 · 29 November 2023]

I think the set up was an interesting one, and the heavy party situation, added to people being unsure there was a slasher at play at first. Then you get a mystery who done it, which is cool because it keeps you guessing a little. And I think this adds to the story, so it's not a "mindless" slasher. I enjoyed the story.

The lead who plays Julia is very likeable, she is definitely an innocent scream queen who cares for her friends. I do like how the is an offer to get them off the island, because this is both sensible, and shows that Julia is a caring character wanting to find her friend first.

The teen drama is too be expected, and it is very typical teen drama. Overall I had fun with it.

Party Horror with awesome Cast!

[robinweigelt · 10/10 · 23 October 2018]

A must see for every Austrian teenager! Real places and partys, shocking story and talented local actors. This movie can totally mess with major Hollywood genre productions.

Interesting idea, generic but decent implementation

[aronharde · 6/10 · 2 December 2023]

As a German I was really excited to see an Austrian horror movie and I was curious to see what our neighbors are up to in the horror genre. Also I really like the idea of some friends being in a foreign country partying and then getting picked off one by one. When I'm not making a movie marathon I usually like to go out and party with my friends and meet other people so for me this movie was pretty relatable and I was excited to see the approach for this.

Not too long after the movie starts the first people are killed and I have to say that the kills are pretty cool in my opinion, nothing over the top but still not boring. This goes on for some time until you finally have the big reveal at the end. The movie does not reinvent the wheel and it has many old-school slasher tropes and in the end a pretty generic plot. However I enjoyed the movie for what it was and think that is a decent watch. [5,7/10]

Austria goes Hollywood

[bert-23051 · 10/10 · 23 October 2018]

Totally loved it! Great newcomer cast with authentic language and intense story. The partys seem real and have an enormous power. I could totally feel with the main character Julia as she was very likeable.

I can recommend the movie to everyone under 25years!

Awesome!

[john-20200 · 10/10 · 24 October 2018]

I was at the Premiere in April 2018 in Vienna and i can totally recommend it! It is fun, frightening and i feel young again. Great cast!