For reasons I could never quite put my finger on, “Satan’s Little Helper” has always evaded me. Since its release in 2004, I’ve never been able to find time to sit down and watch it, but since its initial release, it’s manage to garner a pretty respectable cult following. “Satan’s Little Helper” is certainly one of the most batshit insane Halloween horror movies I’ve ever seen, which is something that works for and against Jeff Lieberman’s horror comedy. It’s weird, and darkly comic, and over the top, and injects uncomfortable overtones of incest, and pedophilia, to boot. There were genuine moments that made me squirm, and it works to the detriment of the movie itself.
Tag Archives: Dark Comedy
Run, Sweetheart, Run (2020)
Subtlety is not one of Shana Feste’s strong suits and that’s probably why I loved “Run Sweet heart Run.” It’s not subtle at all. It, in fact, clubs us over the head with its message about the dangers of being a woman in modern society. It’s a horror movie in every sense of the word that takes every probable situation that a woman can find herself in, and then amplifies it with a villain that is absolutely more human than human. It’s so blatant in fact with its message about the predatory society women are stuck in, that director Feste even breaks the fourth wall on multiple occasions.
Totally Killer (2023)
A lot of modern directors are cultivating a formula of taking classic eighties and nineties movies and giving them a clever horror twist. While many have likened “Totally Killer” to “The Final Girls,” I’m more prone to consider “Totally Killer” a horror twist on “Back to the Future.” It’s very much a nod to Robert Zemeckis’ film right down to the similar finale. The way director Nahnatchka Khan stages her horror comedy is so much in the vein of the classic film, but that thankfully doesn’t hinder the experience.
Binge and Purgatory (2022)
I can’t say that I responded too much to director Becca Kozak’s short dark comedy, too much. While I dug the inherent creativity behind the premise, the movie really doesn’t offer much of a narrative. There’s a lot of gore and grue, and two characters that spend their time one upping each other in grotesque ways.
The Beanie Bubble (2023)
There’s something interesting about the influx of films about capitalism and massive corporations being tailored as approachable biopics. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this growing sub-genre of corporate/consumerism biopics feels slimy and calculated. These aren’t movies so much as they are commercials and often cheerleaders for the idea of humanizing faceless corporations and “average” CEO’s whose life literally depends on a business decision. Despite some interesting aspects to it, “The Beanie Bubble” is yet another dose of corporate capitalism being lionized in a big budget, star studded movie. “The Beanie Bubble” is vaguely about the Beanie Babies craze of the 1990’s, but it’s a mostly fluffed up, mostly fictional account of Ty Warner and how he went from billionaire to has been seemingly overnight.
Bottoms (2023)
It’s pretty disappointing going in to a movie expecting so much and leaving it felt like it could have been so much more. While many have sung the praises of Jennifer Seligman’s “Bottoms,” I am sad to have left it feeling generally indifferent. It has an interesting premise and has a good time taking its LGBTQ premise and fitting it right in to the myriad coming of age high school comedies, but so much about “Bottoms” felt so under developed and incomplete. Apart from its absolutely bizarre premise, “Bottoms” spends most of its run time trying to figure out what it wants to be.
A Shining Example (2023) [Fantastic Fest 2023]
Director Clarke Wolfe really has her eye on the ball when it comes to delivering darkly comic horror, and “A Shining Example” seems like she has so much more in store for us. Wolfe’s short horror film is an ode to “The Shining” that’s set in contemporary times dropping us in to a much more relatable conflict. What’s interesting about Wolfe’s film is that she sets up so much ambiguity that we’re never quite sure what’s fiction and what’s character Aiden’s imagination taking shape when all is said and done.