Jerry Skwiski, one half of the creative duo behind Dreidel of Dread and The Twelve Slays of Christmas, set out on his own to craft another holiday-themed horror flick and what he came up with was the 1996 Liberation Films release Cinco de Murder. Despite Skwiski’s termination of his original contract with the production company, Liberations Films president Mel Gammill liked Skwiski’s idea for Murder and wanted to see what Skwiski could do behind the camera as well.

Though Skwiski’s first directorial effort, Murder shows a bit of polish. It seems like he might have picked up a few techniques from former partner Clark Bernstein because he handles himself fairly well, lending the film a stylish flair for a slasher film. It also doesn’t hurt that he stacked the film with young, attractive actors, including James Renfroe (still a few years from his role in May Day) and Missy Daniels (fresh off the success of her swimsuit calendar).

The film follows a group of friends celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the most debauched way possible, with massive amounts of drinking and nudity involved, as is to be expected in a film like this. Another expected and welcome element are the graphic violent murders that begin before even the film’s opening credits roll. The first two kills are effective and bloody and set up the vibe of the film very well.

Unfortunately, these kills are only effective because the killer stays out of sight. When the killer does finally make a full appearance, it does elicit some derisive laughter. He’s dressed in an oversize sombrero and poncho and looks like a ridiculous stereotype. The same, sadly, can be said for most of the Mexican-American characters who show up. They’re treated as caricatures, all speaking in broken English. It’s rather upsetting to see a modern-day film deal with characters in such a disrespectful manner. And given the film’s conclusion, better treatment could have been given to everyone in the film.

The film’s saving grace are the kills, despite the killer’s silly appearance. Skwiski came up with some fairly inventive, brutal ways to dispatch the characters. One character meets an untimely end at the end of a pool cue. Another is force-fed extra spicy salsa until he chokes to death. But the best death of the film has to be a character who is kidnapped, bound and gagged, and stuffed inside a giant piñata. When it’s time to smash open the piñata, the character is beaten to death by the unsuspecting crowd.

The most unique part of Murder, though, has to be the finale, which will be discussed in slight detail, so avoid this next paragraph if you don’t want to know what happens. Basically, the killer has dressed himself in an overly stereotypical Mexican outfit to have people believe that it’s a Mexican-American who’s committing the murders so that more serious legislation will be passed to keep immigrants out of the country. It’s a very bold move, but its impact is somewhat invalidated by the stereotypical treatment of every other non-white character in the movie. Maybe that was Skwiski’s intention, to make the characters more obviously stereotypical so that viewers would subconsciously pick up on it, but ultimately it’s not effective.

Overall, Cinco de Murder is a middle-of-the-road entry into the slasher genre, but Skwiski shows promise behind the camera. There are things it could have done better, but as it is, it’s a good film to watch when you’ve just finished drinking and partying with all your friends.