There was a period of Marshmallow where I had already turned on the movie, eagerly waiting for it to end in meek fashion. The uninspired yet clearly inspired setup — more summer camps and masked murder, for the love of god — was enough to kill my enthusiasm for Daniel DelPurgatorio’s debut feature. But, thankfully, that all changed once the story abandoned its elevator pitch.
The way Ebert and Siskel felt about the deluge of slashers back in the ’80s is how I’m starting to feel about this new wave of slashers, although not for moral reasons. No, filmmakers today are just too quick to channel the golden age of these kinds of movies, and the results are mixed, to say the least. I feared Marshmallow was going to be another example. And that concern was valid, given how Andy Greskoviak’s story is set at a summer camp and includes a campfire tale about a killer in the woods. How I long for the days when that concept had boundless appeal.
Before the tide changed, Marshmallow went through the motions; young protagonist Morgan (Kue Lawrence) is shipped off to summer camp after his grandfather passes. And from there, he’s bullied non-stop — particularly by one fellow camper with a real mean streak — and in constant fear of, well, everything. He’s an all-around scaredy cat even before the movie unveils its slasher element.
Morgan’s severe degree of cowardliness is, as anticipated, designed to be dismantled. Marshmallow acts accordingly once the camp counselors deliver its requisite in-universe legend of lurking evil; in the forest lives The Doctor, a boogeyman who preys on children. That looming threat is absurdly punctual too, because Morgan and his bunkmates are soon targeted by said entity. It’s a series of conveniences that is either the work of pedestrian writing or something more ambitious and cunning.
Marshmallow gets points for having an actually young cast of characters at the center of its story, as opposed to the adults found in the likes of Friday the 13th. The older counselors play second to pubescent Morgan and the other campers, giving the movie a slightly heightened sense of dread. It’s not often the assailants in slashers target children. Marshmallow doesn’t exactly go for the throat with these comparatively younger fodder, but it isn’t holding back either.
As solid and profitable as the reveal is in Marshmallow, the buildup takes up so much of the movie’s runtime that there’s no sort of considerable follow-through. We’re left asking questions once the cat’s out of the bag, and despite being able to draw our own conclusions, the ending is unfulfilling. If this were a Goosebumps book, then this clunky and somewhat vague outcome is fine. As a movie that aims to subvert expectations, it leaves you hanging.
Minor quibbles aside, Marshmallow rescues itself from becoming another by-the-numbers and forgettable entry from the current slasher cycle. It’s a bit of a trek getting to that huge plot change-up, and while I certainly felt the fatigue and frustration beginning to set in, this movie is a trip still worth taking. Just hang in there and you’ll be rewarded.
Marshmallow is now playing in select theaters.
Tales from the Paulside 
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