Though I thoroughly enjoyed director Chad Ferrin’s “Easter Bunny Kill! Kill!” I have to say that its primary downfall is that it takes much too long to build up to anything violent or horrific. A good forty minutes in to the movie I understood the build-up but could never understand why it took so long to extrapolate on the cruelty of the supporting characters. In spite of those flaws though “Easter Bunny Kill! Kill!” is a great little horror karma tale you’ll enjoy if you’re willing to invest enough time in the story and over the top performances.
Tag Archives: Comedy
Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre (2009)
The best way to approach independent films looking to tap the comedy genre is to keep an open mind. Try a parking lot in the Grand Canyon type of open and you’ll be there. That’s the way I confronted Dave Campfield’s “Caesar and Otto” horror comedy. An apparent sequel to an earlier film of his, Dave Campfield enlists the horror genre to this installment and just goes all out wacky in every single instance he can muster up. Campfield doesn’t exactly follow a specific comedy formula here and it shows quite often with scenes that are just insanely nonsensical. From character Caesar’s inherent wackiness when indulging himself in a bit part as an extra in a television show (a scene that promised to be awful but was quite funny), to his implementing of “Where’s Waldo”-like glasses when reading a map, Campfield just seems to be using whatever he thinks will work no matter how nonsensical it may be and… It’s funny. It’s very funny.
It's Groundhog Day Chainsaw Sally! (2009)
On Groundhog day in Porterville Maryland, nine independent filmmakers went deep in to the woods to film a documentary about a string of disappearances and murders that became local folklore and… well, let’s just say they didn’t come across any stupid punk ass witches or giggling children. No, they happened across Chainsaw Sally and her brother Ruby. Stumbling across the group of inept filmmakers, the brother and sister slaughter team decide to bring down their investigation that could lead to their downfall if not stopped. So Chainsaw and Ruby decide to bring down the poor film students one after another cutting off their resources, and cutting off their limbs while having a gay old time.
Frankenstein Unlimited (2009)
The folks at Sinema Saliba manage to concoct an interesting indie experimental anthology film around the theme of Frankenstein and rebirth with a series of short films that dabble in narratives revolving around mortality and death all of whom vary in tones of artistic to the utterly absurd. Director Matthew Saliba pulls out all the stops for this anthology picture that deconstructs the tale of Frankenstein and sets the framework down in assorted set pieces and flavors that help this movie feel like a varied buffet of vignettes that will manage to perfectly entice the viewer’s imagination and rethink the concept of the mad doctor and the monster.
Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Side (2009)
Watching “Something, Something, Something Darkside” is similar watching another episode of “Family Guy.” It’s boring, tedious and so intent on being funny it feels as if it has to point out almost every single joke it posits. “Ahaha, the giant chicken is Boba Fett!” says Peter. Get it? Because the chicken fights with Peter in these long drawn out unfunny fight scenes meant to kill time and hide the fact the show is short on actual story. “I’d give my right hand for this day to end.” Get it? Because Chris is Luke and Luke gets his right hand cut off by Darth. When Luke is hanging from Cloud City, Leia asks Luke to raise his right hand. Get it? Because Chris is Luke and Luke gets his right hand cut off by Darth. “Turn the Ship Around” is played when Leia asks Lando Calrissian to turn the ship around to save Luke. Get it? Because of the disco song. Does any of the target audience even know what Disco music is?
Kick-Ass (2010)
One of the saving graces of “Kick Ass” is the casting of Chloe Moretz, a young girl who manages to completely and utterly steal the show from every single cast member here including Clark Duke, and she’s managed to spawn an unlikely legion of admirers who came to the movie to see a little girl mutilate everyone in her path. While “Kick Ass” never quite manages to muster up the sympathetic story it did in the comics, Matthew Vaughn completely wins over the crowd with Hit Girl aka Mindy, the most interesting character in the bunch who is given the most interesting conflict in the film as this character whose own life manages to play out like a typical hero origin. Little girl loses her mom after her dad is framed for a crime, she’s trained by him to become a killer, the dad dies and she avenges him in cruel and unusual ways. I assumed the girl would hit the big time after seeing her steal scenes from Joseph Gordon Levitt in “(500) Days of Summer” but here Matthew Vaughn shows that he takes the character very seriously and never dodges her sheer brutality in the face of schmoes who happen to come across her blade.
Spiderbabe (2003)
Misty Mundae aka Erin DeWright aka Erin Brown is an underrated performer. I’m a little hesitant to call her an actress, but she is a competent performer worthy of some acclaim if she ever manages to break free from the softcore porn/exploitation genre and approach an actual acting career. If you saw her in the “Masters of Horror” episode “Sick Girl,” she capable of vulnerable sympathetic solid acting. But that’s not to say I don’t love her in what she does. I’ve seen “Playmate of the Apes” where she’s in full on comedy mode leading the charge with a bunch of fake apes going to war, and I enjoyed her in “Lord of the G-Strings” where she engaged in mild girl on girl and petting with some brutally hot fantasy nymphs, so “Spiderbabe” was naturally a treat for me as Mundae explores her comedic talent and her ability to be both grating and charming at the same time.