Penny Lane Is Dead Review: A Blood-Soaked Blast of Home-Invasion Horror

★★★½☆

Penny Lane Is Dead marks the feature directorial debut of Mia Kate Russell, a director whose work has been featured in ABCs of Death 2.5 and Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker.

Set in Australia in 1986, during the final summer of high school before college, three childhood friends spend one last night together at a beach house before Penny’s cousin crashes the party uninvited. A prank goes wrong, turning the evening into a blood-soaked night of survival and revenge.

“A sweet blend of The Last House on the Left, The Strangers and Wrong Turn.”

The film offers a heavy combination of home invasion and revenge while hitting the same balance of slasher fun as Wrong Turn. It doesn’t quite reach the grounded baseline of You’re Next.

Russell’s approach starts with the script, which she wrote alongside directing the film. She crafts interesting, bold characters who create the backbone of the story while drawing from the premise that made The Last House on the Left so enticing and gritty.

Penny’s cousin is the black sheep of the family—a narcissistic blend of biker and goth girl who is clearly mentally unstable. Her boyfriend is just as far off the deep end as she is, creating a knockoff Mallory-and-Mickey-type situation. The crew working for her boyfriend’s father are all sleazy dirtbags, with the exception of one man for whom it is simply a job.

Penny, meanwhile, is the family’s golden child. She is going to college to become a lawyer and is the most sought-after and popular of the group, but she is also the most grounded and lovable. This creates a character everyone loves and no one wants to see harmed. Her openly lesbian best friend and secret lover is tougher and more in line with Erin from You’re Next, although she isn’t inexplicably as badass.

“A great batch of characters you can stand behind and root for.”

Russell creates a great group of characters whom audiences can follow through this blood-soaked horror-revenge slasher. The storyline is well ironed out, with punchy, witty dialogue that wholeheartedly embodies the characters.

Russell’s vision is clear, crisp and consistent. The pacing, tone and bloodshed are well balanced, despite minor timing flaws that alter the buildup and payoff of a few scenes. These flaws are notably forgivable given the film’s style and tone. The slight imbalance in timing and tightness keeps the less intense moments balanced instead of forcing them to feel more intense or causing them to stand out in a bad way.

Andrew Droz Palermo’s cinematography is crisp and well-framed throughout. The camera creates emotional tension and buildup that connect well across the film, acting as an extension of a director with a clear vision.

The opening uses crisp, well-framed center shots before gradually allowing the camerawork to feel looser, freer and more uncontrollable during certain sections of the story, while returning to a more centered execution during others.

It is paired with a subtle but consistently present score by Pascal Babare and Chiara Costanza. The film opens with a fun, loose piece of music that matches the antagonists’ tone throughout.

That musical approach carries from the opening to the record scene late in the first act, when the “invasion” aspect truly begins. It allows the shift in tone to start lightly and with unintentional violence—more fun and enthusiastic—before the record cuts off and the tone and intent change.

“A fun, well-crafted popcorn horror film.”

Given the context and intention of the film’s tone, Mia Kate Russell delivers a fun, well-crafted popcorn-style horror film that doesn’t try to remain grounded or realistic, even when its premise is fairly real and twisted.

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