Rich in sharp dialogue, amusing situations, and cast members wonderfully bringing their easy-to-root-for characters to life, writer/director Michael Lovan’s Murder Bury Win is a delightful crime comedy with horror elements. From nail clippers to bear traps and beyond, if it can be used as a murder weapon, the protagonists in this film have most likely thought of it.
That’s because the main trio is made up of three would-be board game developers. Chris (Mikelen Walker), Adam (Erich Lane), and Barrett (Henry Alexander Kelly) are three game-nerd friends who are trying to come up with a product that can challenge Murder Wall as the next big thing. Chris is interested in the challenge, Adam is interested in the potential money, and Barrett is interested in the collaboration. After the three buddies fail in their crowdfunding effort for the titular game, they are invited by legendary indie game developer V.V. Stubbs (Craig Cackowski) to show him their game. Impressed, or at least feigning so, Stubbs offers to buy the rights to the game for a pittance, with the trio only receiving credit for being play testers.
It is here where the intrigue truly kicks into high gear, with Chris, Adam, and Barrett having differing opinions on the situation and how it should be handled. The charismatic, eccentric, reclusive Stubbs is a force to be reckoned with, and what happens next sends Murder Bury Win into absurdly funny territory as the game and its developers are put to the ultimate test to see just how good its elements are in real life.
With most of the violence off-screen — often in hilarious manners — the film is centered on its likable characters and their ever-worsening dilemma rather than gore and special effects, and the dialog is filled with plenty of both tension and razor-sharp humor. Lovan wrote his characters wonderfully (John Hart receives a co-story credit), and the four leads bring them to cinematic life vividly. It feels like Chris, Adam, and Barrett have known each other for years, and the performances from Walker, Lane, and Kelly are a big reason why.
Lovan keeps the proceedings of Murder Bury Win going at a rapid clip, from the film’s opening scenes of a man on the street being stalked by potential killers to the jarring climax. He does a fine job at the helm of his narrative feature film debut, crafting an imaginative, highly entertaining and satisfying slice of genre cinema.
Murder Bury Win screens as part of the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, which runs online from December 11–27, 2020. For more information about the festival, visit
