After her mother’s death, Max has difficulty re-adjusting to life without her. As she grieves, she’s invited to a screening of 80s slasher Camp Bloodbath in which her mother starred. Against what might be her better judgment, she decides to go with her friends. Once there, an incident pushes the group into the film itself, Last Action Hero style, where they face off with its masked baddie Billy Murphy and try to save themselves, the cast, and Max’s mother.
Believe the hype. “Saving Christmas” is one of the most bafflingly awful movies ever made. And while I can kind of see the distorted logic behind making this kind of movie, nothing about it makes any kind of sense. Every time you think the movie almost understands where it’s heading, it just completely flies off the rails and injects some truly remarkable moments of lunacy. Star and producer Kirk Cameron is so sure that his movie will finally convince people that Christmas is Christian and only Christian that he begins the movie with a monologue about his agenda for the movie. There are only about five characters in the movie, including one really creepy Santa, and they’re all portrayed by a truly horrific cast of performers.
“Saving Christmas” is much too certain about itself to be considered satire, and often much too campy to be taken seriously. Kirk looks dead certain he knows more than anyone about religion and Christmas, and doesn’t mind flaunting it throughout the film, but then he literally ends the movie on our cast break dancing during a Christmas party. In a slow motion montage. Again, I’m almost certain it’s meant to be taken with a tongue in cheek, but I’d wager Cameron intended the climax to be taken seriously, much like the message behind “Saving Christmas.” The movie is much too baffling and surreal to trash it completely, so I just couldn’t help but itemize five observations about this oddity.
While the rest of America is celebrating the resurgence of the Peanuts with “The Peanuts Movie,” those that want an education in to the appeal of the series can pick up Warner’s latest release. While the holiday series from the Peanuts are typically timeless and quite iconic, the Peanuts has also earned themselves plenty of Emmy nominations and a few wins with some non-holiday themed Charlie Brown specials that are also quite good in their own right. Warner releases over four hours of Charlie Brown specials on a two DVD set that is so worth the pick up. Especially if you’re a hardcore Peanuts fans like yours truly.
“Vacation” is a reboot of the original National Lampoon’s series, but it’s not dedicated to reminding fans that it stems from a once beloved series. There are your typical nods, but through and through the new film is its own animal that strives for its own brand of sleazy comedy, and for that I respect it. It acts as a sequel, and virtual restart, while also allowing a platform for fans to go out and check out the original Chevy Chase films for some frame of reference. It’s not mandatory, however. I also enjoyed “Vacation” much more than I thought I would, speaking as someone who went in to it with rock bottom expectations; even if it tends to be something of a mixed bag right until the very end.
Brian James O’Connell’s “Bloodsucking Bastards” is that type of comedy where characters speak in rapid fire pace and never actually say anything. Every character in “Bloodsucking Bastards” yammers on endlessly, and it’s all just palaver and white noise, eventually. Every attempt at a hilarious one-liners or goofy situations fails to land, making the entire affair one big misfire. This alleged horror comedy is neither comical nor very scary. Granted, there are some eerie moments, but nothing really ramps up the tension or the stakes. Fran Kanz plays Evan Sanders, a workaday cubicle jockey for a closed off telemarketing office building that sells various products.
Though aiming for the big promotion, he’s passed over in favor of an old college rival named Max, who takes over operations and begins focusing on streamlining the company. Things spiral out of control when Evan’s co-workers begin disappearing and then re-appearing as loyal office drones rather than the usual apathetic minimum wage workers they once were. Before long Evan realizes the whole office is being taken over by vampires, and, for whatever reason the master vampire has their eye on Evan’s girlfriend Amanda. Now hoping to survive, Evan teams up with his remaining co-workers to save his girlfriend before she’s eaten. O’Connell’s film actually makes vampires seem even less menacing than they ever were.
The script places them in an office setting for some crude allegory about a company takeover that ends up being interesting only until the finale. You can sense the sheer desperation to elicit some form of laughter from the group behind the film, as characters drop one-liners and bounce insults off of one another like it’s going out of style. All the while O’Connell introduces the elements of the vampires that results in some nice gory moments of carnage, but feel grossly tacked on. Plus, it’s really tough to involve yourself with the unfolding terror when not a single character is likable or charming. I almost didn’t care if anyone survived, and just wanted to see more of the solid vampire effects.
The vampire facial prosthetics are quite good, along with an accompaniment by some pretty nifty splatter effects. O’Connell anxiously aspires to deliver his own “Shaun of the Dead” (even the theme song sounds like a variation on the theme from “Shaun”) combined with “Office Space,” trying to add dimension and nuance to his central hero, but it’s unsuccessful. Instead the film feels a lot more like one long stale viral comedy segment. Only co-star Emma Fitzpatrick comes out of the affair smelling like roses, as her depiction of the hot but courageous jilted ex of Evan is fun to watch. “Blood Sucking Bastards” is brutally mediocre and instantly forgettable filler with admirable aspirations that never take off.
Featured on the Blu-Ray from Shout!, there’s a four minute outtake reel, a four minute on the set segment for the film with some B roll footage and clips, and a six minute reel of deleted scenes labeled as “Easter Eggs” for some reason. Finally, there’s the original trailer, and an audio commentary from the comedy troupe Dr. God, which compiles the film’s director, writer, and most of the cast. They have a good time with the commentary and had an apparent great time making the movie. It’s too bad the fun and raucous energy never carries over in to the final product.
While “Easy Money” and “Men at Work” are imperfect films, they’re also raucously entertaining and centered on the quick wits of their stars. They’re also original movies about the working class thrust in to funny and unusual situations, from earning a fortune to trying to fight political corruption and a crime ring. “Easy Money” from 1983 is an entertaining and hilarious comedy starring Rodney Dangerfield as Monty, a professional photographer and family man. He’s a man prone to something of a hedonistic lifestyle. He loves his family, and his daughters, but he also loves smoking, drinking, indulging in fatty foods, and gambling almost non-stop.
Norman is a kid who has an unfortunate problem. He lives with a small family, all of whom expect a lot from him, especially his dad who badgers him constantly. Norman’s dad just wants Norman to be like every kid. One who doesn’t talk to spirits of the dead, including his grandmother who died years prior. Norman never really asks for his ability, but is aware of a long lost uncle Prenderghast that his family shunned away years ago, who shares his knack for speech beyond the grave. When his uncle Prenderghast tracks down Norman, and makes him cautious of a curse involving an ancient witch that is set to unfold in their town.