As a Brit, I’ve heard enough about Homeowners Associations to know that Americans generally hate them. It makes you wonder why they don’t show up as the antagonist in American media more often. Perhaps it would be boring, but William Bagley’s new film, Hold the Fort, which had its world premiere at Fantasia Festival, makes it anything but! When Lucas (Chris Mayers, Ozark) and Jenny (Haley Leary, The Out-Laws) become homeowners, HOA President Julian (YouTube comedian Julian Smith) greets them on move-in day and invites them to their annual equinox party later that evening. The couple are in for a big surprise when they discover the HOA—which charges a hefty $500 a month—is not evil, but fights evil. They protect the community against the bloodthirsty monsters, witches, and ghouls that come rushing out of the nearby portal to hell once a year ready to kill. Will they survive the night?
The premise, written by Bagley and based on a story by Scott Hawkins, is pretty cool—certainly an entertaining idea for an action-packed comedy horror. It’s FX-heavy with its monsters and buckets of blood, which offers a blend of CGI and practical effects. They’re somewhat choppy, but all good fun. The weakest part of the film is its surface-level characters. At only 74 minutes, it’s a fortunately tight script. It’s great that the story just gets going, it’s straight to the point and doesn’t waste any time, but it comes at the cost of getting to know the characters. Many have a defining one-note trait, such as Lucas being a positive and upbeat person, whereas Jenny is more sarcastic and negative. Stuntman Hamid-Reza Benjamin Thompson (Black Panther) appears as the group’s strongman, McScruffy, but Leslie (Tordy Clark, Glorious) stands out as the resident druggie, supplying anything you might need to get you through the night, whether it be coke, heroin, or even muscle relaxants.
There’s decent humour throughout, though some attempts fall flat, but that’s neither here nor there. Their mantra “magic can’t stop bullets” against witches and discussions around the inflation of silver capture its playful humour. It’s balanced with some touching moments as not all characters survive the night. There’s metal music in the score but it’s fairly volume-controlled with stops and starts. It makes you wish they’d gone full steam ahead with the soundtrack like they did with the bloodbath. That said, the score does effectively set the tone for each scene. Ultimately, Hold the Fort is not here to be a great movie, it’s here to be silly and fun, much like Army of Darkness and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. While it doesn’t have the same impact as these films, Hold the Fort has spirit, which is enough for many veteran fans of the genre. The hammy quality becomes endearing when you’ve dedicated your life to watching and supporting low-budget horror flicks. The blooper reel at the end is a great addition to the film’s final moments.
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