Two lunch ladies lose it a bit and feed their high school students something a touch different while day-dreaming of cooking for their beloved Johnny Depp.
Written by Clarissa Jacobson and directed by J.M. Logan, Lunch Ladies is a horror-comedy short that packs a punch. It’s one of those that is easily watched and for which is humor works and so does the gross-out factor. Together, these two create a fun short that more than worth its runtime and that allows the viewer a bit of a break from the usual when they fully give in to what Seretta and LouAnne have to offer. The film is kept tight and moving with just the right amount of everything, creating the perfect balance between everything going on in the film.
Giving great performance as Seretta and LouAnne are Donna Pieroni and Mary Manofsky who are the perfect team here, giving their characters conviction and moving the story forward with a great sense of timing and a passion that shows through the screen. The way they perform here allow them to have chemistry and comes off as a mix of crazy and best friends-like. The way they bring their characters to the screen are why the film works so well. In any other hands, the connection would not have been as strong and some of the effect would have been lost. The rest of the cast is also quite good with some coming up better than others, but in general, the ensemble is fantastic here.
Adding to the performances are the special effects done under special effects supervisor Matt Falletta, they are great looking and add just the right amount of blood and gore to the film’s story and humor. Working with these and with the story and performances is the cinematography by Chris Ekstein and the editing by Amelia Allwarden who create the images that are shown and create a framing for the ladies and their story that works well here and elevates the lower-budget in place to make it look like a very high production and a glossy one at that.
One last thing needing noting, besides the fact that there is not Johnny Depp used in the film, is the end credit in which further adventures of the Lunch Ladies can be seen, adding one last little bit of fun before they let their audience go.
Lunch Ladies is an effective horror-comedy with two leads that perfect together and that bring both the fun and the horror with a dash or two of crazy. It’s a short that is worth checking out more than once and should be seen on the big screen should the opportunity arise.