APRIL 26, 2008
GENRE: COMEDIC, SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (FANGORIA CONVENTION SCREENING)
Maybe it’s just me. I thought I had a pretty broad sense of humor, and that it doesn’t take much to make me laugh – I giggle when someone says “sandwich” for Christ’s sake. But I didn’t laugh a single time during Splatter Disco, which is a big problem when the filmmakers were more concerned with jokes and humor than they were making a slasher movie. Christ, there are more musical numbers than kill scenes.
At first I thought it would be an amazing movie – a tongue-in-cheek slasher set at a fetish club? There are myriad possibilities for humor! Hell, who doesn’t want to see a Furrie get his/her animal head cut off, played for laughs? But for whatever reason, it simply doesn’t work. Ever. At all. In fact, on an entertainment level, this may be one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. It’s technically proficient (ugly digital video aside) and all that, but at no point during the entire film would I say I was having “fun” or “enjoying myself”.
Here’s an example of why the humor doesn’t work. At one point, this nerdy dude is fighting a jock douchebag type guy. Some guy goes to stop it, and Ken Foree stops him from stopping them. “Let them fight” he says. Someone asks Foree if he wants the kid to fight to prove himself, and Foree is like “No, I have 100 bucks on this!”. Ignoring the fact that Foree somehow found the time to bet on an impromptu street fight, it’s just a generic joke we’ve seen a bunch of times in other movies. But that’s fine-ish. What kills it is that after the fight is over (the nerd wins), Foree starts crying. The SAME GUY asks if he’s crying because the guy triumphed and became a man, and Foree is like “No, I lost 100 bucks!” That’s the same fucking joke! Which wasn’t funny to begin with! With the same two people!!! Christ!
Most of the humor is Police Academy-esque, albeit dumbed down and more obvious. As for the slasher scenes, they are entirely without suspense or buildup, though reasonably gory. And I kind of like how many folks are left standing at the end of the film – even if it meant an almost total lack of kills, it gave the ending a hint of originality not often possible in a slasher film. And it's nice to see Providence, RI used in a horror movie (for real I mean - Stuck took place there but was filmed in Canada).
And I should note that I was one of the few people in the screening that wasn’t laughing (actually I was one of the few people to stay for the entire movie – I saw a lot of walk outs and no one who came in late bothered to stay much longer). They might have all been cast/crew or friends, but hey, at least they seemed to be entertained. I would have walked out myself, but then I’d have to watch something else for the day. So I pressed on, just for YOU!
In closing, I’d like to note that this is the 100th slasher movie watched for Horror Movie A Day (including non canon reviews and October Extras). Hurrah, I guess.
What say you?
I was one of the people who showed up late to that screening. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I have a feeling that had I stayed for the whole thing, there'd be a chance I still wouldn't have known what was going on.
ReplyDeleteI was actually very wary of staying at the convention any longer at that point. I bought all the swag I needed, but my whole purpose there Saturday was the supposed "30 minutes" of new footage of Black Devil Doll, but that didn't screen until 10:00 PM. The two movies that went up after Splatter Disco were both brilliant. Basement Jack and The Rule of Three. You should have held out.