Potpourri

As the title suggests, this is a potpourri of different genres and styles: there's comedy, horror, medieval fantasy, musical, a bit of animation and it's all trying to go for a Christmas-y feeling, too.

Plotwise, Potpourri doesn't fare very well. As mentioned, it mixes all kinds of different genres, but, even though the separate scenes and events are fun, they don't add up very well and the overall story doesn't make much sense in the end.

Since we're following the separate misadventures of around 4 different characters at a time, there are very few opportunities for getting bored. On top of that, every once in a while the movie is briefly interrupted by a guy recording his movie review show while watching the movie itself, which makes it even more dynamic and is a good addition in most cases.

College-going characters in movies can often be annoying and over the top, but this cast was surprisingly likeable and I didn't have any problems with any of them. Even though there are a couple of atrocious performances (which honestly make the movie better), most of the acting was solid.

As for the effects, they were much better than expected. I enjoyed the gore and they even had a decently made puppet in there. Towards the end there were some scenes with After Effects blood, which is probably one of my biggest turn-offs in low-budget horror, but it's not too bad, since most of the previous scenes had good makeup and practical effects.

Overall, it seems that this film was a labour of love and the feeling of fun the people involved seemed to have while making it is also passed on to the audience. Even though it's far from a masterpiece, Potpourri is an ambitious, charming and enjoyable independent movie.