‘Hold the Fort’ Review – Monsters Invade in Wacky Siege Comedy-Horror Movie [Fantasia 2025]
Homeownership can be intimidating for first-timers, but, in the case of irreverent comedy-horror Hold the Fort, it’s downright deadly. Witer/Director William Bagley (The Murder Podcast) brings the laughs in his monster-a-minute style approach to homeownership. Not even its peculiar stance on HOAs or its budgetary constraints can hold back the almost DIY charm of this madcap, briskly paced creature feature, knowing exactly when to take a bow before overextending its welcome.
Like many horror couples before them, Jenny (Haley Leary) and Lucas (Chris Mayers) have just relocated from the city to their first home in an idyllic suburban neighborhood. They’ve barely moved in when Jenny is perturbed to learn that their new, exclusive digs come with the very thing Jenny didn’t want: an HOA. It just so happens to be the day of the HOA’s annual gathering at the clubhouse. Lucas drags his begrudging partner to the party, where they learn that it’s really an annual event where the entire community bands together at the clubhouse to stave off encroaching evil from a nearby hellmouth.
It’s the precise type of setup that lays bare whether this is the feature for you. It’s siege horror, Cabin in the Woods-style, with an emphasis on humor over horror as it zips along its scant 75-minute runtime. Bagley employs a narrative structure not unlike a fighting game, in which the threats emerge from the gaping hellmouth one at a time for battle, increasing in threat levels and regularity as the night wears on. While the practical effects ensure a fun monster romp, they often take a back seat to the sitcom-like group dynamics; Hold the Fort assembles a wacky motley crew of neighbors that provide the film’s comedic backbone and heart.
While Lucas’ hapless naivete becomes more off-putting as the body count mounts, it’s offset by Jenny’s cynical wit. Leary earns easy laughs for the way Jenny’s resistance toward the HOA party disolves in the face of a kind moonshine offer, and her sardonic retorts in the face of kung-fu zombies, witches, and more. There’s never a tangible sense of Lucas and Jenny’s relationship, though, despite Hold the Fort constantly telling us that these two are madly in love, exacerbated by their polar opposite personalities. There’s nothing in the way of arcs or motivation beyond simply surviving the night, either. Still, Leary in particular makes the most of it despite not having much to do.
It encapsulates Hold the Fort as a whole: it’s an infectiously charming assemblage of jokes and monster vignettes bound together by a barebones plot with not much on its mind beyond delivering an entertaining time. As such, enjoyment is highly dependent upon whether its brand of humor works for you. Hold the Fort favors puns, physical gags, and knowing winks, a puerile cartoon of a comedy-horror movie where some of the HOA’s MVPs bring an array of hard drugs to cope with the creature onslaught. Those on its wavelength will fall hard for the irreverent monster mashup, even if it’s oddly positive about HOAs in general. Those who don’t may be eager to move out of this wacky neighborhood.
Hold the Fort screened at Fantasia International Film Festival. Release info TBD.
The post ‘Hold the Fort’ Review – Monsters Invade in Wacky Siege Comedy-Horror Movie [Fantasia 2025] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.