The distinctive Yaarab Shrine Temple on Ponce de Leon in Midtown was the sight of a series of grisly murders in August at the hands of a revenge-seeking, mask-wearing man.
At least that’s what MTV concocted for a film, cheekily titled “My Super Psycho Sweet 16,” set to air at 10 p.m. Friday.
The flick is a bit of an homage to MTV’s own reality show “My Super Sweet 16,” featuring over-the-top parties for pampered teens -- with a bit more blood on the menu.
Atlanta resident and director Jacob Gentry worked on the film with fellow University of Georgia buddy Alex Motlagh. Gentry said he isn’t a fan of reality shows per se, figuring they are “the lowest form of entertainment you have. But then I saw the show they were trying to base this on. I had this realization it’s the perfect scenario for a horror film. It flipped me around.”
Gentry, 32, said most horror flicks use metaphors and, given the rough financial times, “I thought what better way to talk about that through film than with spoiled rich people?”
The modestly budgeted $1.5 million movie, which doesn’t include major stars, focuses on Skye, who at age 6 saw her dad hatchet up teens at his roller skating rink. He was sent to prison but disappeared after his prisoner van crashed and burned. The rink shut down.
Ten years later, snide, snooty Madison Penrose wants to have her “sweet 16” party at the rink, reopened just for her.
Skye flirts with Madison’s hot ex-boyfriend and decides to exorcise her own demons by crashing the party. That’s when the slashing, hacking and general mayhem begins.
In Gentry’s mind, “it’s a John Hughes film that gets interrupted by a John Carpenter film.” In other words, imagine a mash-up of “16 Candles” and classics such as “Halloween” and “Prom Night.”
“Super Psycho,” Gentry said, is clearly in the “slasher genre” where there are rules viewers expect will be followed. “It’s like playing the blues,” he said. “You want to give it your spin but you don’t want to interrupt the formula too much. You still have to play the blues. In this case, we don’t want to reinvent the wheel.”
Alas, the film has a few horror movie cliches:
● The teens who make fun of heroine Skye get their comeuppance. And even if you’re lecherous to the under-aged bad girl, your future is cloudy.
● The murderer disappeared years ago, presumably dead. But is he dead? Really?
● People at this party don’t need to go to the bathroom - unless they’re major characters ready to get whacked.
● Trapped? Go up the stairs of course! That’s always the best escape route!
● Why shoot someone when smashing them to bits is so much more fun?
● And make sure the ending implies a possible sequel.
On TV
“My Super Psycho Sweet 16”
10 p.m Friday, MTV
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