Balls of Fury

Balls of Fury

2007

Directed by Robert Ben Garant

I went into this film with low expectations, and it was still worse than I expected. It did have some funny moments, but most of the humor just fell flat. This is surprising since it is created by the writers of Reno 911!, one of my favorite television shows.

Rustin Allison

Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me To Hell

2009

Directed by Sam Raimi

I thought this was a fun and funny horror flick. The story follows a bank loan officer who is pressured to refuse a credit extension to an old woman. The old woman ends up cursing Christine and Christine is stalked by an evil spirit with the intent of dragging her to hell. A straight-forward story-line, but it is one that Raimi has quite a bit of fun with at the same time. 

One of the things that I enjoy about Sam Raimi's style is that he can make something horrific and hilarious at the same time. There is a scene early on in the film where Christine and the old gypsy woman are fighting in her car. Christine manages to push Mrs. Ganush out of the car and has the door locked. Mrs. Ganush disappears and Christine pushes her head against the window to try to see where the old lady has gone. I'll post the clip below to better illustrate this part of the film. 

Drag Me To Hell is filled with these great fright-filled gags and it made the whole film a fun one to watch. The plot may be a bit predictable at times, but the humor and frights are so clever they more than make up for this little short-coming.

Rustin Allison

The Howling

The Howling

1981

Directed by Joe Dante

I am not sure what to make of this film. I enjoyed parts of the film. I thought the creatures looked great, and some of the effects sequences were very well done. I enjoyed seeing Patrick Macnee in another role (he's famous for playing John Steed). Some parts of the film just seemed too silly though. I enjoyed the humor of the film... it's just that some of the more serious moments came off as just plain silly.  

Here's what I enjoyed about the humor: the intercutting of a Disney Big Bad Wolf cartoon with a werewolf attack was really funny... in a dark sort of way. I didn't like how some of the people in the Colony acted. I felt it gave away the secret of the Colony way too early. Also, the love scene by the fire just looked way too fake. This may have been intentional... but to me it just looked bad and distracted from the film.

Rustin Allison

A Mighty Wind

A Mighty Wind

2003

Directed by Christopher Guest

Two words: Mitch and Mickey. 

I really enjoy the mockumentaries directed by Christopher Guest. The films are mostly improvised and this improvisation adds to the documentary feel. The heart of this film are Mitch and Mickey (played by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara). They are a folk duo who re-unite for a tribute concert. They are both hysterically funny, but there is a sense of melancholy to them. They also get to sing the great Oscar nominated song, "Kiss at the End of the Rainbow." Everyone in this film is great and it is one of those films that gets funnier with repeat viewings.

Rustin Allison

Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness

1992

Directed by Sam Raimi

This is the third Evil Dead film... and the one most focused on comedy out of the three. There are some great one-liners in this film and Bruce Campbell does a great job as the macho hero Ash. The film really is a tribute to the work of Ray Harryhausen and there are some very funny skeleton army scenes. Not all of the humor works, but this is still a fun film to watch with a group of friends.

Rustin Allison

Monsters Vs Aliens

Monsters Vs Aliens

2009

Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon

This is the first 3D film that I have seen since The Nightmare Before Christmas was re-released in theaters a couple of years back. I went to see this movie because it was 3D, and although it wasn't the best animated film I have ever seen... it was worth seeing it in 3D. The film was funny enough and I loved all of the references to old sci-fi movies. It just felt like a re-hash of The Incredibles to me.

The main reason to see this film is the 3D presentation. Yes, my eyes did feel a bit of a stain after a while... but it was worth it. The destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge sequence has received much attention and it deserves the notice. This sequence was very thrilling to watch and the 3D aspect of it added so much. Since this film was a success, it will be interesting to see where 3D goes from here.

Rustin Allison

Speed Racer

Speed Racer

2008

Directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski

This was a movie I rented mainly out of curiosity. How did a big-budget family-aimed film do so poorly at the box office? I still am not sure... because I actually really enjoyed the film. Yes, it is a long film for a kid-oriented flick, but I never once was bored with it. Even though I knew Speed Racer would win his races, I was still silently cheering him on. 

The movie is full of glorious racing sequences that are full of over the top visuals. They are very trippy but I thought that in a way they made the audience feel what it would be like to be in a high-speed racing car. I also really enjoyed how some of the transitions were done. Little details from a scene would gradually fill up the screen until the transition was made.

The acting was just as stylized as the rest of the film and I really enjoyed John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Speed Racer's parents. 

I came to this film expecting a complete mess but actually came away really enjoying it.

Rustin Allison

House of the Dead: Overkill

House of the Dead: Overkill

2009

Published by Sega

This is a game that I picked up pretty cheaply this week. I have to say it was well worth the purchase. I have never play any of the other games in this series, but this one is pretty outrageous. The film follows the look and narrative of a 70s exploitation horror film. Everything about the game is over the top and it make sit quite fun to play.

The film is divided into chapters and these chapters play like they are trailers for various films. There is a great narrator throughout the entire game that warns players of explicit scenes or says the names of the films such as Pappa's Palace of Pain. The game also has quite a few original songs that are quite funny and often offensive.

Rustin Allison

Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer

Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer

2007

Directed by Jon Knautz

This was a film that I had never heard of until it showed up on my LoveFilm recommended list. This is one of the things about the internet that I DO like. The fact that companies like LoveFilm and Amazon can recommend things to me based on past likes and dislikes. I think this is referred to as The Long Tail effect.

This was a fun little film. It was especially enjoyable watching Robert Englund in a more kindly role rather than as the character he is most famous for (Freddy Krueger). The title character definitely owes its inspiration to Ash from the Evil Dead series, but he is different enough to stand on his own and support what looks to be the start of a franchise.

The other aspect about this film that I enjoyed was the complete lack of CGI to do the special effects. All the monster effects in the film looked to be all practical effects. That is they were done at the same time as the rest of the scene was filmed. I think there is something about this that adds to a horror movie rather than takes away from it. I like it when a film makes me go "Oh, how did they do that?" 

Rustin Allison

Scary Movie 2

Scary Movie 2

2001

Directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans

The follow-up to the incredibly successful first film fails a bit in keeping to a coherent narrative. I did think some of the gags in this film were funnier than in the first, but I think the first film is the better one.

Rustin Allison

Black Sheep

Black Sheep

2006

Directed by Jonathan King

Black Sheep was a film that I remember seeing the trailer for, but unfortunately it never played in a theater near me. I may have lucked out on that point. I was quite disappointed in the film itself.

The film had the potential to be a great horror-comedy, but I felt the film was filled with too many gags that ended up just falling flat. I thought the idea of people running away from a sheep was hilarious, but this was muddled by using every sheep joke available.

The effects were quite good, but the film isn't worth watching just for them. The sheep creatures were excellent, and you could tell the filmmakers were going for more comedic approach... I just feel they missed their mark just a bit.

Rustin Allison

Scary Movie

Scary Movie

2000

Directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans

Ah, the first film in the Scary Movie series. Is it funny? Yes. Is it offensive? Yes. What I actually felt motivated to write about this film is how (like Scream) it re-invigorated a genre - the spoof film. Both films are very knowingly self-referential. Scream was a breath of fresh air for the horror genre. It was funny (poking fun at genre conventions) and scary (using these same conventions to terrify). Scream also led to the making of many more teen-focused horror films.

Scary Movie took Scream to a new level. While Scream used a balance of comedy and horror, Scary Movie (using pretty much the same plot) takes its humor as far as it can. Scary Movie itself was a success, and there have been many spoof films in the past few years. 

Rustin Allison