Marshmallow — Marshmallow( Blu Ray)
Marshmallow is a 2025 film that utilises the campground slasher format to create something rather unexpected/ different. It weaves in elements of coming-of-age drama, straight horror, and sci-fi. It has a decent cast, a moodily throbbing synth score, some nicely effective moments of tension, and rewarding twists' n’ turns. Here from Toy Robot Video- a new genre/ cult film label is a Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a director's commentary, short films, and a few other things.
Daniel DelPurgatorio directs Marshmallow- this is his first feature after releasing seven shorts’/ music videos/ etc. It was shot between April/ May 2023 at Camp Kysoc Park, Carrollton, Kentucky.
The film's focus is Morgan (Kue Lawrence), a bowl-cut, twelve-year-old who has little or no confidence/ is often bullied. He is sent to summer camp for two months to try to help him make friends/ experience more, but after being told a fireside story about a demented doctor who lived in the woods and sewed together his victims, he becomes even more of a nervous wreck.
The first forty or so minutes of the film largely focus on coming-of-age drama, with some effective moments of nightmare dreamscaping, which largely centre around water- be it flooded bedrooms, water spurting from Cronenberg-like split chest cavities, or pool-related.
Later on in the film, it appears that the killer doctor/ or someone trying to kill him, is very real, and the white hazmat-suited, masked, and head-lit figure stalks the forest and cabins of the camp.
Along the way, there are subtle moments of blood-ness/ gore, but really, it’s more stalk than slash, and when we find out what’s really going on, we go very much sci-fi horror-bound.
Kue Lawrence is a great lead, really selling very well a lonely & bullied pre-teen; he also sells moments of fear and terror very well too. The other child actors in the film are all good too.
On the adult side, we have a good enough selection of camp counsellors- there’s a Love Himself Muscle Man, a supportive twenty-something African American, a middle-aged camp head who comes down hard on those bulling/ not pulling the line, and a few others.
Marshmallow manages to do something different with the overplayed/ cliched campground slasher format. The whole thing is both well-scoped & acted, with a just over an hour & a half runtime, remaining effectively eventful & engaging.
On this region-free Blu-ray, we have a few things. First up is an audio commentary with director Daniel DelPurgatorio and actors Kue Lawrence and Kai Cech. This is a highly chatty/ laid back affair- though there are some interesting/ worthy titbits. They begin by talking about the underwater sets in the film, and how the lead got well/ truly soaked. They point out different locations as they appear, relating personal stories to them. They discuss where synth and sound design blend to create ethereal and odd moments. They chat about how the camp location was just full of leaves and dirt, but they really manage to give the rooms a lived-in feel. We find out the weather was good throughout, aside from a brief moment of rain. Later on, they talk about when the film goes off the rails, with moments of role reversal. They point out favourite moments in the score, and the shifting genres in the film's makeup.
Otherwise, we have: Deleted Scene (0.58), Filming the Dream Sequence (3.01). Video podcast interviews- Growing up is weird ( 9.54), Everything feels like a haunted house (10.25), Summer Camp shenanigans(11.01). Script pages, image gallery and a selection of trailers.
Having been a slasher film fan since the 80’s/ the gold age of the genre, it’s always nice to see someone trying to do something different with the genre. And Marshmallow is most certainly that- with the genre mixing done here in effective/ impactful manner. I’ll be keeping an eye out for what director Daniel DelPurgatorio does next, as there’s a lot of promise here for the future here.