There’s a delicate balance in the genre of horror that is scream versus laughter it’s the segway into the subgenre of horror comedies, we all as fans have our favorites, for me there’s the classics Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein [1948] and Young Frankenstein [1974] to the more modern ones Shaun of the Dead [2004], Tucker and Dale vs Evil [2010], and even Cooties [2014]. Then we have these comedies which attempt to spoof/parody a certain type, namely slasher hence Scary Movie (the first one did this well) but it leads us to the discovery of the bad comedies, on that lengthy list we find Club Dread. This entire film is like a train crash in a bad disaster movie watching it slowly slide down the mountainside with more wackiness occurring in its plunge; therefore, instead just giving a standard review of the plot, characters, and other details I decided on a different course the discovery of why it is so bad but not good. I am not going to pick apart every issue of the movie like a DOA film as it is not that horrendous. The Broken Lizard team that had the overwhelmingly popular Super Troopers (2001) were pressed to have another comedy gold flick, and hence were forced to make another film quickly less than three years between the two projects. They likely had some good thoughts but as more ideas poured into the mixture the storyline crumbled into ruins, from paper thin characters, poor stereotypes, and forced comedy which at times is extremely juvenile.
Erik Stolhanske, Steve Lemme, Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter, Kevin Heffernan and Brittany Daniel
Jay Chandrasekhar, served as both director and writer but he also had four additional writers Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske on for the screenplay, simply it is too many cooks spoil the soup. I believe I have identified 10 aspects that the movie failed to deliver a positive result and that led to a $1-million loss at the box office, although this isn’t correct, since the film cost $8.6-million one really needed to earn more than the initial budget to show profit, namely $17.2-million; as well as received insurmountable amount of negative reviews. Therefore, let’s begin the examination of a production that was filmed in Mexico for the fictious location of Pleasure Island near Costa Rica, though one wonders is it near another fake island called Isla Nublar on pacific side as it would be home of Jurassic Park [1993].
Steve Lemme, Jordan Ladd and Brittany Daniel
As for those unaware of the story’s wandering plot I will attempt to narrow it down, Coconut Pete, had a minuscule brief rock hit called “Pina Colada-burg” still holds the grudge that “Margaritaville” stole his thunder; hence he runs a college getaway resort of sorts on Pleasure Island where the philosophy of hedonism reigns supreme. Meanwhile a mad killer, of is roaming the island, which might be Machete-Phil, either way the artwork on the box art is not any scene in the film. Sam’s (Erik Stolhanske), nickname job is to be the “Fun Police,” and is a heavily self-centered and lusts for his own gratifications, he is closely followed by first Jenny (Brittany Daniel (The Hamiltons [2006])) who serves as aerobics instructor and Lars (Kevin Heffernan) a large Buddhist, so-called pacifist, a huge Pete fan and skilled masseur. The film opens with a triple homicide and throughout the film the staff whack and hack, strangely through many of the guests. As the film progresses, we find the cartoonish representation of Juan (Steve Lemme) a cliff divemaster, with a terrible accent and constantly driven by sexual conquests who forms a relationship with Penelope (Jordan Ladd (Satanic Panic [2019])) a gymnast. Assisting Pete is his bodyguard Hank (M.C. Gainey (Haunted High [2012])) a very talented character actor. The story just plods aimlessly along with bodies often piling but nothing truly makes sense why they are happening with an ending that ridiculously and idiotically goes over-the-top after an exquisite gore drenched moment.
Um The Killers Outfit
First, the screenwriters don’t lay out the straightest path to tell the story, there’s too many times the plots feel dismembered as if someone forgets to incorporate more powerful points or set devices with better comedic payoffs. In other words, this pattern: A-b-A-b-A, the A = major moments the b = minors you can have many of these, but they need to have solid thread providing a reason for each part and person involved to play a role. This leads us into the next problematic issue involving a sluggish pacing, having uninteresting filler moments, thanks to the poorly created characters and often these were very stereotypical not with a clear representation of any 80s slasher flick and regarding one that many deemed as insensitive and racist, namely Juan. It’s here that one needs to focus some additional time, as each of the primary characters aside from one, fell into a strange competing patter of who could the most annoying and grasping the highest level of immaturity possible, which would likely find themselves on the audience’s most wanted death list.
M.C. Gainey and Bill Paxton
Before continuing with more negative aspects, a brief pause for the one character most viewers did enjoy, Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton) who despised the comparison in the film to Jimmy Buffet, his role sometimes reminds one of a collage of his other film characters. There’s one scene late in the second act which occurs in a kitchen which feels as if his fame Aliens [1986] role of Hudson appears momentarily.
Bill Paxton RIP
Now returning to the characters for a bit more of in-depth analysis, most have a one-dimension, meaning there is nothing beneath the surface for a viewer to take away, while that is commonplace for a typical slasher herein it appears more as an empty void. In horror one is familiar with the stereotypical behaviorisms, however in this film it is all too over-exaggerated resulting in a cartoonish caricature of how a real person would react. For example, the character of Putman (Jay Chandrasekhar) has a pitiful accent of a British bloke which changes constantly in pitch and tone, however if it was all done as a shtick to sweet-talk the ladies it might worked better, but often it is distracting.
DJ complaints
Another major negative impact is the juvenile humor, it is all rather weak, once again, it must be conveyed as natural even improvisation without cheap gags. The comedy is not sharp enough to carry the movie’s shortcomings filling screen-time with brashness and bodily functions. As the humor lacks so does the core horror elements mainly in the inconsistent execution, they use a Kukri Machete Knife with a 11-1/2″ blade highly like one used Night School [1981], a hint of originality, but the killings often aftermath shots. The biggest thing that drives the movie to the negative are the inconsistencies which include the tone related back to the previously mentioned pattern it shifts too wildly for a viewer to be set-up correctly for the right response. For example, if the setting reads for horror but abruptly moves into comedic performance leaves the audience empty for the thrill. The characters easily add to this pyramid problems as well as the scare factors; for a seasoned horror fan not much works on us, but for a regular viewer the ineffectiveness works against creating frightening moments resulting in playful humorless folly. Instead of parodying the horror slasher subgenre it often tends to use humor against its own movie which is highly unusual hereby an over-campiness saturates many scenes unnecessarily.
The film attempted to layer too much onto a weak base of comedy, there’s hint of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer [1998], a helping from Friday the 13th [1980] smattering of a whodunit mystery but the weight of it all crushes any success. In the end it becomes extremely bloated, even a comedic reference to Abbott and Costello’s famed “Who’s on First” routine cannot save this dreadful comedy. Therefore, is it all bad – no, but it is not good either, simply you’ll need to judge for yourselves how much bad comedy you want to sit through to enjoy some horror spoofing.
TAGLINES:
- A vacation to die for.
- From the warped minds who brought you Super Troopers.
- Sun, Sea, Sex and Slaughter (Ireland DVD)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331953/
IMDb Rating: 5.7/10
Baron’s Rating: 4.7/10