By Geno McGahee
The good people of Broken Lizard are filming SUPER TROOPERS 2 in my backyard, basically. They are doing this follow-up on their biggest hit, but as much the original SUPER TROOPERS is a quality comedy, the best thing that this group has ever produced was CLUB DREAD. The unfortunate thing about CLUB DREAD is that it was compared to movies like SCARY MOVIE and that is a shame. The films produced by the Wayans Brothers with the exception of I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA have been lame uninspired trash. CLUB DREAD is a tribute to the 80’s slasher and if you throw out the comedy aspect, it actually plays out exactly as that sort of film did. Has this film been marketed as it was, a slasher film, rather than the next SCARY MOVIE, it would have done much better.
Coconut Pete’s Coconut Beach Resort is a party location with the likable Coconut Pete, played by Bill Paxton. You can tell that Paxton had a great time in this role and it’s something that he’s not accustomed to. Paxton is such a great dramatic actor that this role in CLUB DREAD was a nice change and proved that he can do just about anything. He fit right into this cast very well and was hilarious throughout.
Lars (Kevin Heffernan) comes to the resort and has an aura of mystery about him. He immediately clicks with the island’s hot trainer, Jenny (Brittany Daniel), making for an odd couple. This doesn’t sit well with Putman (Jay Chandrasekhar), a tennis expert with an infatuation with Jenny and an immediate hatred for Lars. We also have the fun police, Sam (Erik Stolhanske), a serious individual that becomes suspicious of just about everyone once the murders begin. We have the stoner/raver Dave (Paul Soter) and rounding out the crew is the lady’s man, Juan (Steve Lemme). When we are first introduced to many of the characters, in typical 80’s slasher fashion, each one gives that “angry look”, implying that they are the killer. It was hilarious.
A masked killer stalks the workers and leaves clues in the form of lyrics from the songs of Coconut Pete. As the situation gets worse, Pete comes up with a solution. He brings in security specialist, Hank, played by M.C. Gainey, another great addition to the cast. Gainey is great as a tough guy and that’s the role he takes here but he is more like a cartoon character here. He plans to take on the killer one on one, and he then says the line of the film: “So, you’re the guy that’s trying to shit in the apple pie. Well, this is one apple pie that knows how to shit back.”
The suspected killer shifts from one character to another throughout the film and it leads to the great reveal and a trip into total absurdity. Much like many other films like this, the killer seems totally normal until the moment that they are revealed. They then turn into maniacal killers and that is the case here. The killer is so over the top crazy that it is impossible to not enjoy. It goes through all the typical things in horror that you have become accustomed to, including the return from the dead attacks.
CLUB DREAD is a great slasher and comedy. I hate putting those words together, typically, but here it works. A lot of the time, I watch the slashers of the 80s and laugh throughout at the over the top performances and silly situations and CLUB DREAD just took the absurdity and pushed it to ridiculous levels. It reminded me a great deal of CUTTING CLASS, another slasher with comedic tones.
It was great to hear Bill Paxton sing throughout and the people react to his superstar status. Paxton’s singing is so wretched that you can’t help but to laugh and when he took a shot at Eddie Money, it was great. I like Eddie Money, but there were a couple references to him that seemed like a jab. Maybe it’s just me. I also found Brittany Daniel incredibly funny. She understood how to play the role seriously but in a way that was just funny.
CLUB DREAD is written by the Broken Lizard team and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. It is a horror movie no matter how you cut it, but it’s meant to be amusing, not scary. It more than accomplishes that. I would love to see the team work on another horror flick. They did incredibly well here.
Rating: 8/10
