Freaky

 "Freaky" (2020, Christopher Landon, Blumhouse Productions, Divide/Conquer, Universal Pictures) is a horror comedy.

Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) is a typical movie high school teenaged girl... she's also the school team's mascot. After getting within stabbing distance of murderer and local urban legend, The Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), she wakes to discover that she has traded bodies with the madman and is now faced with navigating life as a middle aged, wanted man while said man's consciousness is cavorting around town in her body! 

A hilarious and well-crafted horror comedy from Landon, who also brought us the amazing "Happy Death Day" franchise. The film takes the well-known concept of "Freaky Friday" and adapts it for a slasher film experience with such wonderful ease and tongue-in-cheek hilarity. 

Vince Vaughn excels as Millie, bringing humour and heart in equal measure and then is equally terrifying as The Butcher. Similarly, Kathryn Newton, gives an excellently disturbing performance as The Butcher, countered by her time on screen as Millie.

A fun premise that delivers exactly what you want from it and in a way that is completely rewatchable. I love a good horror comedy and this is a good horror comedy.

[Image: Universal Pictures]

Hani

PG: Psycho Goreman

"PG: Psycho Goreman" (2020, Steven Kostanski, Raven Banner Entertainment, RLJE Films, Shudder) is a Canadian horror comedy. 

Two kids; the Tyrannical Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) and her browbeaten older brother, Luke (Owen Myre); accidentally release a murderous intergalactic warrior called The Duke of Nightmares (played by Matthew Ninaber and voiced by Steven Vlahos), whom Mimi renames Psycho Goreman or "PG" for short (much to PG's chagrin).

Finding that, with the crystal taken from PG's prison cell, they have control over the deadly alien, a relentless Mimi, anxious Luke and their soon-to-be-regretful friend, Alastair, proceed to have some wacky, gruesome fun as well as introducing PG to Luke and Mimi's hilarious parents (Adam Brooks and Alexis Hancey). However, a group of equally entertaining hunters from PG's home planet of Gigax are now hunting PG down. Will the plucky kids help their murderous friend evade retribution? Will they find out if PG has a taste for hunky boys? Only time will tell!

A hilarious, ridiculous, gooey and tastelessly wild ride. PG will win you over with sarcasm and violence, and amazingly Power Rangers-chic practical effects. I had the best time! Easily my favourite film of 2021 so far.

[Image: Raven Banner Entertainment, et al]

Hani

Dave Made a Maze

 "Dave Made a Maze" (2017, Bill Watterson, Gravitas Ventures, Butter Stories, Dave Made an LLC, Foton Pictures).

Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) comes home from a weekend away to find a large cardboard thing in her livingroom. To make things weirder, the large cardboard thing contains her boyfriend, Dave (Nick Thune). Dave warns Annie not to enter his 'maze' for fear of getting lost and explains that he has been trapped within his cardboard creation for the full duration of Annie's trip. When Annie attempts to lift the maze to reveal Dave, Dave yells out and Annie decides to heed his warning. Confused, Annie seeks help from their friend, Gordon (Adam Busch), who then seeks the help of; Harry (James Urbaniak) and his film crew (Frank Caeti and Scott Narver), Leonnard (Scott Krinsky), Brynn (Stephanie Allynne), Greg (Tin Nordwind) and Jane (Kirsten Vangsness). Because that's not enough people to ponder this cardboard conundrum, they also bring over a local homeless man (Rick Overton) and two Flemish tourists (Drew Knigga and Kamilla Alnes).

After some pizza and a lot of pondering, the party decide to enter the cardboard maze. To their surprise, they discover that Dave was not lying and that the inside of the maze is much greater than its exterior looks. To their utter surprise, however, it soon becomes apparent that this maze has a mind of its own and that the maze's cardboard inhabitants may actually be dangerous. Can they find Dave and exit this maze or will they all meet a cardboardy doom?

A fantastically creative piece from the concept to the set design, to the characters. This film is so hard to put into any particular category. It really has to be experienced, to believe. The maze is a wonderfully inventive and sometimes creepy idea. It has an almost nostalgic feel to it. Like the cardboard equivalent of a Henson production. 

The cast deliver an excellent off the wall performance that fits the film so well, in it's otherworldliness. It was nice to see Adam Busch as a familiar face, and Meera Rohit Kumbhani is excellent as Annie. 

The film is not without its dark sides and we experience a surprisingly poignant reflection on serial project abandoner, Dave, and his relationship with his friends, Annie and also with himself. 

At 80 minutes, the film does not overstay its welcome and its sheer inventiveness keeps you engaged as a viewer. A genuine delight that is so worth checking out. You can't know entering the maze whether it's your thing or not. You just have to go in and find out.

Currently streaming on the Arrow Player and available to purchase elsewhere.

[Image: Dave Made an LLC, et al]

Hani

The Babysitter: Killer Queen

 "The Babysitter: Killer Queen" (2020, McG, Netflix, Wonderland Sound & Vision, Boies/Schiller Film Group) is the sequel to 2017's "The Babysitter".

Judah Lewis reprises his role as Cole, now 2 years older and a bit of a social pariah, having shared his story of the eventful night with Bee (Samara Weaving) and her murderous pals with friends and family... No one believes him, of course. 

An unusual new girl called Phoebe (Jenna Ortega) joins the school who catches Cole's eye, but she seems to have her own problems.

On learning that he is being enrolled in a special school by his parents, Cole runs off with his friend Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) and her pals for a party. Everything seems to be going as awkwardly as he anticipated until... tables turn and, with the help of Phoebe, he finds himself once again pitted against the odds. 

A fun follow up to the original that continues in a similar style with tongue-in-cheek tropes and a weirdly paced sense of humour. The action remains fun, gory and cartoonish and there are many familiar faces from the first film. However, liking the first film may not necessarily mean this one will tick your boxes; taking the plot out of one location does widen the scope of the story, but does in some respects make it feel a little more disjointed and less neat than the original film.

[Image: Netflix, et al]

Hani

Patchwork

"Patchwork" (2015, Tyler MacIntyre, Infinite Lives Entertainment) is a horror comedy inspired by various Frankenstein tropes.

A self proclaimed mad scientist (Corey Sorenson) reanimates a corpse made of three different women:
- snooty business woman, Jennfer (Tory Stopler),
- bimbo with a heart of gold, Ellie (Tracey Fairaway), and;
- shy-but-unstable, Madeline (Maria Blasucci).

The woman-women then go on a rampage while they try to work out what's happened to them and how to cope with their new normal... and also to hook up with a guy called Garret (James Phelps) who tries to help them out.

A fun and imaginative take on the popular Mary Shelley-esque tale. Well made and engaging, the film keeps you smiling as you go and doesn't outstay its welcome at 1.5hrs.

Lots of visual gags and a couple of thoughtful moments amongst the mayhem as well as the memorable line "my favourite colour is sparkly".

[Image: Infinite Lives Entertainment]

Hani

Snatchers

"Snatchers" (2019, Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman, Warner Bros.) is a horror comedy about teen pregnancy.

Sara (Mary Nepi) is enjoying her senior year as a popular girl in school. But upon having sex for the first time ever with self-centred school hunk Skyler (Austin Fryberger) she wakes up the next day to find that she's suddenly nine months pregnant with an alien child... With the help of her ex-BFF, Hayley (Gabrielle Elyse), she attempts to deal with the situation with as small a massacre as possible (spoiler: it's not small) and without ruining her reputation amongst her new cool pals or revealing her shame to her mother.

With high energy, puppets, tonnes of blood, a great sense of humour and some strong acting from everyone involved, this fun little romp through the dangers of unprotected sex and why you shouldn't touch fragile displays in museums is an entertaining comedy horror which manages to pack a punch.

With shades of Critters, some splashes of Alien and a lot of Mean Girls/Heathers influence, "Snatchers" manages to deliver a cautionary tale without losing the sheer silliness and entertainment factor that the audience comes for.

[Image: Warner Bros.]

Hani

Mercy Christmas

"Mercy Christmas" (2017, Ryan Nelson, No Mercy Pictures, Other Paw Films) is a festive holiday cannibal film.

Santa brought me this film for Christmas this year. Thanks, Santa.

Michael Briskett (Steven Hubbell) receives an invite to Christmas dinner from the office cutie, Cindy (Casey O'Keefe), and thinks he's won a watch. But after arriving at her family home, he discovers that he might not like what's on the menu...

The DVD box is littered with positive reviews and comments about the gore level of the film. While the film is a purposefully cheesy, low budget piece and does not deliver quite the level of gore I was hoping for, it is pretty funny and hosts some performances which were far superior than I went in expecting as well as a few recognisable faces. The sense of humour keeps the film going despite the cat being out of the bag fairly early in the plot, but the 83 minute run time also does not outstay its welcome.

Our family of religious, social climbing cannibals are both caricaturistic and delightfully reprehensible and, once the chaos ensues, we are treated to some funny fight scenes and physical humour with a definite festive slant. I never knew that fairy lights could be so practical. Our small band of victims/heroes aren't developed very much given the run time but definitely keep the audience on side and deliver a few good comedy moments also.

While it's nothing groundbreaking, "Mercy Christmas" provides that lighthearted black humour someone like me tends to enjoy around this time of year and will most likely enter my annual viewing rotation.

[Image: Other Paw Productions, et al]

Hani

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

"The Dead Don't Die" (2019, Jim Jarmusch, Kill the Head, Focus Features) is a comedy horror about zombies set in a rural American town. Not to be confused with the 1975 horror neo-noir film set in the 1930s.

Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and his deputy, Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) are out in the woods confronting Hermit Bob (Tom Waits) about whether he has been poaching the racist farmer, Farmer Miller (Steve Buscemi)'s chickens. After doing that they leave, remarking that it is surprisingly still light outside despite the time. The cops are later called to a crime scene where it appears that the victims were attacked by wild animals. However, they soon find that some graves in the cemetery appear to be open and that the dead have arisen from them and are back for brains... and coffee. There is also that new undertaker in town, Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) who speaks with a Scottish accent and seems fond of Samurai swords... Could this all be related to the Polar Fracking in the news? Is the world doomed?

In the hands of another director this film could have been pretty fun. With cameos and characters portrayed by Iggy Pop, Danny Glover, Carol Kane & Selena Gomez amongst others, not to mention having top billing with Bill Murray, this promised to be a nice new comedy horror to add to the genre. Unfortunately, Jarmusch's bleak, middle-American style and purposefully stilted scripting robs the film of a lot of charm rather than adding to it.

The styling and handling also seems to overpower the talented cast, whose performances seem to be constrained within the film's parameters and are unable to give it their all. Murray is the master of deadpan, but the forced style of the script undermined his performance a little. I did, however, enjoy the scene with him lying to comfort officer Mindy (Chloë Sevigny); it was decidedly the most human moment between any of the characters and showed a glimpse of what could have been.

The film attempts to have some political messaging but is handled in such an overtly clumsy way it's hard to tell what the stance is and there's some strange fourth wall breaking that doesn't seem to fit into the context of the plot and felt kind of tacked on.

Some of the jokes land, but there are some less witty moments that didn't seem to work and whole scenes of build up that go nowhere or wind up with off-screen deaths which make it all for nought. While this may be a purposeful joke intended to poke fun at the horror genre at large, it didn't read that way during viewing.

There are some fun gory moments, and a lot of Easter eggs (again some more subtle than others) and tropey in-jokes.

Overall I wasn't bored, but the film style didn't lend well to the plot and overall I was a little disappointed.

[Image: Focus Features, et al]

Hani

Office Uprising

"Office Uprising" (2018, Lin Oeding, Mind the Gap Productions, Rumble Riot Pictures) is a horror comedy set in the large office building.

Desmond (Brenton Thwaites) works at a weapon manufacturing company called Ammotech. He mostly likes getting stoned in the stationary cupboard, and this turns out to be a good decision because he manages to avoid trying out the company's new weaponised energy drink that they distribute to their employees. When the drink turns the majority of people in the building into raging psychopathic zombies intent on killing everyone in sight, Desmond, his crush Samantha (Jane Levy) and best pal, Mourad (Karad Soni), attempt to escape with their lives.

A cheesy, entertaining piece of slapstick horror which doesn't really ask its audience to think too hard. It doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table, but the gore is good, the action is entertaining, the comedy is well timed and overall the film delivers exactly what you'd expect from the synopsis.

[Image: Mind the Gap Productions et al]

Hani

Ready or Not

"Ready or Not" (2019, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Mythology Entertainment, Vinson Films, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) is a dark comedy horror about marrying into families with weird traditions.


Grace (Samara Weaving) has only known Alex Le Domas (Mark O'Brien) for 18 months, but she knows he's the one and they're getting married. Alex is from a rich family famous for their boardgame empire, but Grace does not love him for his money and is worried that his family dislikes her. Grace is an orphan, so the family's perception is important to her. Alex is really nervous about the whole thing, which Grace attributes to wedding nerves. The wedding is held at the family's large stately home and seems like a classy, but snooty affair. That night, however, instead of having an ordinary wedding night or drunkenly falling into a bridal suite, the couple are taken into a secret family room where it transpires that the Le Domas' have a quaint family tradition of letting a spooky box belonging to their long dead family benefactor, Mr. Le Bail, choose a game for the new family member to play. Grace takes a card from the box reading "Hide and Seek" and with that, is told to hide whilst the family members arm themselves with antiquated weaponry and begin to hunt the poor unsuspecting bride down or else face the deadly wrath of Mr. Le Bail.


A fun film which balances comedy and gore in good measure and offers a good selection of entertaining and over-the-top characters to enjoy amongst the carnage. It has the right pitch between the humour and the gore and the on-edge dread we feel whilst in hiding with Grace. There are also a few very well timed twists and turns and overall I enjoyed second guessing where we were going in the end.


The acting is solid in all cases, but Samara Weaving particularly creates a strong and sympathetic protagonist in Grace. She's likeable, relatable and swears like a sailor. The end result is very engaging and, at the end of the day, all the characters have a pretty good reason for doing everything they do... except for perhaps Alex, who could have possibly thought this through a little more in the long run.


Definitely a crowd pleaser, by the audience reaction around us last night and certainly a film with a rewatchability factor. I would certainly put it on my shelf along with the likes of "Tucker and Dale vs Evil" for a fun, Friday film.

[Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures, et al]

Hani

Critters Attack!

"Critters Attack!" (2019, Bobby Miller, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Television) is the fifth film in the Critters horror comedy franchise.

We follow the story of Drea (Tashiana Washington) who reluctantly agrees to babysit the kids of a college professor, hoping that this might increase her chances of being accepted to the school. She, her little brother, Philip (Jaeden Noel), Trissy (Ava Preston) and Jake (Jack Fulton) come across an injured white female Krite in the forest and unwittingly take it with them which makes them a target for the other, more violent Krites who chase after them, killing and eating everyone and everything in their path...

It was fun to see the Krites back to their usual menacing and humorous antics and to see Dee Wallace back to battle them after the first film. However, the film didn't quite hold up along with the rest of the series in my view. The kids all deliver good performances with Washington as a good leading lady, but the characters themselves are fairly unlikeable and a bit bland. Characters in Critters films are pretty much just critter-fodder anyway, but it seemed like a missed opportunity considering how much time we spend with the four main characters in the film. They felt like characters written by someone who dislikes children and young adults. Aside from Dee Wallace, there are little to no other ties to the other four films. The film also meanders a lot and seems to run out of steam before its eventual conclusion.

But it is still worth your time, especially if you are a fan of its predecessors. The effects are fun, practical and suitably gory with the familiar glowing red eyes and ridiculous rolling balls of teeth hitting all the right chords. In terms of the creatures themselves and the action delivered, this entry feels very much like a film made for the fans and offers a nice amount of nostalgia.

[Image: Warner Bros. Television]

Hani

You Might be the Killer

"You Might be the Killer" (2018, Brett Simmons, Chuck Wendig, Curmudgeon Films) is a horror comedy set at a Summer Camp in America.

Sam (Fran Kranz) is a camp counsellor who awakes from a blackout to find that there has been a massacre at the summer camp he works at. He can't remember much before the blackout, but while on the phone to his horror movie fan friend, Chuck (Alyson Hannigan) things begin to clear and he begins to question his role in the bloodshed.

A fun and extremely meta horror comedy which plays tropes from a range of genre favourites for laughs. Starting out as a viral Twitter conversation between authors, Chuck Wendig and Sam Sykes, the film is very playful, suitably gory and extremely tongue in cheek.

As a fan of both Kranz and Hannigan, I can't say I went into this film anything but keen and open minded, but I'm happy to report that the film was solid and irreverent enough that I know I would have enjoyed it anyway, even without those two filling the key roles. Kranz, however, continues to be able to get away with (on screen/in universe) murder while remaining a very sympathetic character.

Like most horror comedies, the main plot joke does lose some of its sting by the end of the run time. But its cheeky styling and ability to poke fun at the genre whilst remaining respectful of horror as a whole makes this a playful and entertaining watch.

Available to watch on Shudder.

[Image: Curmudgeon Films]

Hani

Society

"Society" (1989, Brian Yuzna, Wild Street Pictures) is a body horror film which was actually the directorial debut from Yuzna who brought us "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond" so... you know what you're in for.

Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) is a teenager in Beverly Hills. He lives with his wealthy parents and sister, Jenny (Patrice Jennings). Despite his luxurious lifestyle, Bill feels alienated from his highfalutin family, and this is the main focus of his weekly meetings with his therapist, Dr. Cleveland (Ben Slack). Bill becomes obsessed with finding out what's going on when Jenny's ex-boyfriend, Blanchard (Tim Bartell), gives him a cassette tape which seems to implicate his family in a disturbing and murderous act. As Bill begins to delve deeper into the mystery of his family and the apparent elite cult that they are a part of, he begins to suspect that he may be more alone than he thought.... And that his enemies may have gruesome plans for him...

An entertaining and gooey horror comedy which builds to a fairly disturbing and equally funny climax. The effects (by Screaming Mad George (Joji Tani)) are surreal, perverse and delightfully gruesome and are, in all fairness, the true star of the film which is admittedly a little clunky in the plot department.

This is definitely a must-see for any body horror fan and will leave you chuckling and possibly also a little traumatised.

[Image: Wild Street Pictures]

Hani

Dead Heat

"Dead Heat" (1988, Mark Goldblatt, New World Pictures) is a horror comedy.

Detectives Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo) are investigating an unusual robbery at a jewellery store where two of the robbers, having been killed by police, are found to be people who had already had autopsies completed on them previously... by the same police morgue coroner.

Following the chemical clues from the bodies, the Detectives find themselves involved in a science fiction plot where one of them will become the living dead! In a race against time to decomposition, the team must try to take down the evil corporation bringing the dead back to life.

A fun, daft film which doesn't try to be more than what it is and enjoys a lot of pseudoscience, cheesy fight scenes (including the oddest fight scene involving freshly butchered animal carcasses ever) and a small cameo from Vincent Price.

[Image: New World Pictures]

Hani

Sleepwalkers

"Sleepwalkers" (1992, Mick Garris, Columbia Pictures) is a film based on a short story by Stephen King.

Charles (Brian Krause) and his mother, Mary (Alice Krige), are the last surviving creatures of a clan of shapeshifting energy vampires called Sleepwalkers. They are also terrified of cats. As well as being mother and son, the couple are, well, an incestuous couple. *shudder*

Charles meets Tanya (Mädchen Amick) at school and begins a romantic relationship with her in an attempt to feed from her life energy to keep himself and his mother alive. Unfortunately for Charles, things do not go to plan. Especially when a local police deputy sheriff (Dan Martin) and Clovis, the police cat, catch up on the would-be feast.

The film clumsily straddles the genres of campy horror comedy and a more serious vampire movie. It begins somewhat strongly but tapers off into a bit of a farce around the halfway mark. Although, that's not to say that it is not enjoyable; it is. It's just perhaps more enjoyable for more humorous reasons than initially intended.

Mary plays out as the most interesting character with her flimsy nightwear and penchant for setting bear traps in which to snare the neighbourhood felines who have taken to sitting on her lawn. And Charles is a somewhat sympathetic character up until he begins his games of cat and mouse (pun intended) with both Tanya and with the deputy sheriff.

The film enjoys some fun, physical effects and an entertaining ability of the Sleepwalkers to make themselves invisible, into cat creatures or to add a glamour to any given object.

A sincere yet cheesy piece that also enjoys a short cameo from both Mr. King and Mark Hamill as well as a small but memorable role for Ron Perlman.

Come for the intriguing premise, but stay for the batshit crazy action. Killer corn on the cob!

[Image: Columbia Pictures]

Hani

Saturday the 14th

"Saturday the 14th" (1981, Howard R. Cohen, New World Pictures) is a horror spoof film.

John (Richard Benjamin) inherits a house from his uncle and moves in with his wife, Mary (Paula Prentiss), and their kids, Debbie (Kari Michaelsen) and Billy (Kevin Brando). The house isn't exactly what they'd envisaged and, when Billy finds a strange book, things begin to get weirder. To add to their problems, vampire couple, Waldemar (Jeffrey Tambor) and Yolanda (Nancy Lee Andrews), are desperate to get their hands on the house and, more importantly, that book.

John and Mary remain oblivious to all the weird happenings, and begin to plan a housewarming party which will result in some more antics. They also hire an owl exterminator (Severn Darden) to rid them of the strange noises heard throughout the house.... An exterminator who may have more of an idea of what's going on than the family do themselves.

Despite a fair few recognisable talents in the cast, the film can't shake off a distractingly stilted quality. A lot of gags fall a little flat also. However, it's oddly charming, if a little too silly to consider 'so bad it's good'. Not the best horror spoof out there.

[Image: New World Pictures]

Hani 

The Babysitter

"The Babysitter" (2017, McG, Netflix) is a comedy horror with plenty of gore.


Cole (Judah Lewis) is a 12 year old kid who gets bullied a lot at school. His only solace is that his babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving), is super hot and pretty cool. And she also plays down the part where she's his babysitter. When his parents go on a weekend away, Cole creeps out of bed to spy on Bee and her friends having a party in the living room, but he soon discovers that the teens are up to something much worse than drinking alcohol.... human sacrifice. Can Cole get over his crippling fear of, well, everything in time to save himself? And will he finally get his first ever kiss? Only time will tell in this gory flick.


While it's far from a genre-defining, ground breaking innovation, the film delivers exactly what it needs to; humour, gore and a host of disposable characters who get to die in a bunch of gruesome ways. Our collection of would-be Satan worshippers cover all the usual stereotypical bases (eg. jock, cheerleader, etc...). Only Bee and Cole truly stand out as characters who break stereotype.


The film spends a good while setting up the relationship between Bee and Cole. He fancies her. He's awkward. She's easy going and a little wild. Cole tells Bee all of his secrets, while unbeknownst to him, she uses this against him any way that she can.


When the murder and mayhem begin the film does not scrimp on the gore and we see a lot of innovative kill scenes which expertly mix humour and ick-factor without becoming too silly.
Gore aside, the film also makes use of interesting camera perspective, a lot of 80s-feeling tropes (despite being based in present day) and just enough character depth to instil a sense of betrayal from Bee when we find out her intentions.


All in all, I found "The Babysitter" to be a fun and worthwhile watch which I've even revisited on occasion.

[Image: Netflix]

Hani

Troll 2

"Troll 2" (1990, Claudio Fargasso, Filmirage) is an infamously bad film about a fairly strange 'average' family taking a holiday in a town that's not only boring; it's infested by goblins. Luckily the goblins are vegetarians... Also, noteworthy that this film is not a real sequel.

Joshua (Michael Stephenson) appears to be an everyday kid. If an everyday kid talks to the ghost of his deceased grandfather, that is. He lives with his mother and father; a misguided couple who don't seem to comprehend what a vacation is; and his teenaged sister.

The family head to the town of Nilbog (genius, right?) where they are creepily welcomed by the locals. But luckily for them, Grandpa Seth (Robert Ormsby), warns Joshua that the townsfolk are actually goblins in disguise and that, if the family eat the food offered to them, they will be turned into vegetation which the goblins will eat!

Can they avoid a fate worse than death? Can they escape the clutches of the world's most melodramatic witch/goblin (Deborah Reed)? Why can't the goblins just grow their own vegetables like everyone else?

A horror comedy so bad that it's perfectly watchable. The acting, with the ironic exception of young Joshua, is entertainingly stilted and the outlandish plot manages to be both mediocre and hilarious. The goblin costumes are also reminiscent of homemade Halloween costumes. A real trashy movie that every B-movie fan should see; even if it's just for a good laugh.

[Image: Filmirage]

Hani

The Greasy Strangler

"The Greasy Strangler" (2016, Jim Hosking, Drafthouse Films, Rook Films, SpectreVision, Timpson Films, Filmrise) is a surreal dark comedy horror film about a killer who strangles victims to death while wearing nothing but a layer of grease... It's also a film about love, betrayal, weirdos, nakedness and disco... Kind of.

Big Ronnie (Michael St. Michaels) is a strange man who runs a disco walking tour with his son, Big Brayden (Sky Elobar). The tour offers little in the way of facts, disco or free refreshments; much to the chagrin of the customers. The father and son also live together, hang out a lot in their underwear and eat a lot of excessively greasy food; just the way that Big Ronnie likes it. Big Ronnie also enjoys moonlighting as a greased up murderer in the buff, washing himself off at the end of his escapades at a car wash run by his blind disco friend, Big Paul (Gil Gex).

Big Brayden meets Janet (Elizabeth De Razzo) on one of his father's walking tours, and the pair fall in weird love, much to the distaste of Big Ronnie. The perturbed Ronnie begins a campaign immediately to win Janet over from his son.

A very marmite movie that will either have you rolling your eyes and laughing or completely repulsed. Maybe both. The characters are outlandish and dirty and the dialogue is purposefully stilted. If you're up for watching some fully frontal nudity with a lot of swinging prosthesis' and a fair amount of cartoonish gore then this is the movie for you.

This is a film that will stay with you forever and have you wondering why you watched it for weeks, possibly years, to come. And yet, like me, the experience has probably taught you nothing and you will definitely watch more like it in the future.

[Image: Drafthouse Films, et al]

What a pair of bullshit artists!

Hani

Happy Death Day

"Happy Death Day" (2017, Christopher B. Landon, Blumhouse Productions, Universal Pictures) is a horror comedy homage to "Groundhog Day" following an entitled college girl.

Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) is a student at an American college. She is a member of a Sorority, she parties hard and drinks too much and she's having an affair with one of her lecturers. Basically, she's a typical college movie-biatch. On her birthday, however, Tree wakes to find herself sleeping on the dorm bed of one of her male classmates, Carter (Israel Broussard) (hint, not a cool classmate). Enraged at her drunken shenanigans, she rudely makes her leave and goes about her day as planned. However, that night she meets a masked killer on her way to a party and dies.

But, that's not the end. Tree then awakes to relive her birthday again and again, trying to find out who her killer is before it becomes too late!

A fun film boasting some good old horror carnage, wit and humour and even a likeable protagonist who develops depth and emotional attachment through her journey.

All in all I'd say this film was as sleek as it was funny and, teamed up with "The Final Girls" and "Tucker and Dale vs Evil", we'd have ourselves a pretty damn good night.

[Image: Blumhouse Productions]

Hani