As of now, the only way to watch Founders Day is to head out to a movie theater when it releases on Friday, Jan. 19.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL MOVIE FREE
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL MOVIE FREE
To properly understand any film, I have to understand the characters and their motivations. To that end, Founders Day’s characters are severely lacking in any depth and too often feel like caricatures of people with far more intrigue than we’re given. The poor acting choices don’t exactly help, and the film is too self-serious for its own good. William Russ’ turn as Mr. Jackson, the kindly history teacher, is a grounding force and his performance exemplifies what the film might have been had every actor given as strong a performance.
And yet, Russ isn’t exactly helped by the Bloomquists’ script, which is infatuated with providing too many red herrings and plot twists. By the time of the big reveal, I wasn’t exactly clear on what any of the characters were truly gaining from any of the murders, or what changes were so worth fighting for that they would resort to such rampant violence to achieve them. Perhaps it’s because none of the characters had pathos.
Even when the killings occurred, the script didn’t leave room for the characters to process the shock and grief. One-dimensional portrayals of Mayor Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves) and Harold Faulkner (Jayce Bartok) are especially egregious because their heartlessness and consistent attempts to one-up each other render them more comical than twisted. Naomi Grace does the best she can to imbue Allison with quiet strength and sadness, but she barely has time to emote before the next murder sends her running.
The film’s story seems rather simple: A battling mayor and her opponent are too caught up in winning the upcoming elections to actually do anything they promised their town, much less be there for their children. Enter the masked murderer, whose killing spree starts with Faulkner's rebellious daughter, Melissa (Olivia Nikkanen). The themes are there, too, as Founders Day explores the issues with politicians and their empty vows, and what might happen when the focus becomes on maintaining power and winning over everything else.