November 30, 2005

November’s Triple Feature Picks by Mike C

The lonely, mistrusted, misunderstood horror-comedy. These are the bastard children of the horror genre: Never really funny enough for the masses or scary enough for the hardcore horror fans. Of course, many horror films have an element of humor to them though, for example all the EVIL DEAD films, and as I was telling Rob G the other night, I liked SAW because I thought the whole thing was one big sick joke. Last years SHAUN OF THE DEAD managed to be both funny and, I think, a very realistic view of what a zombie invasion might be. I think the problem with comedy and humor in horror is most people automatically are quick to assume “humor” means something along the lines of the lesser NIGHTMARE sequels or the teen-horror films of the late 90’s. It doesn’t have to be. A laugh and a scream are just strange cousins of each other. It takes just as much clever timing and talent to get a scream as it does to get a laugh. So here’s three horror-comedies I think have great, sick, twisted senses of humor, and shed plenty of red:

STUDENT BODIES: This 1981 film has sadly been forgotten since cable TV stopped playing late night horror movies, and that’s really sad. The horror starts on Jamie Lee Curtis’s birthday when the students of the local high-school begin to be terrorized by….”The Breather,” a seemingly asthmatic serial killer who murders with paperclips, erasers, plastic bags, and most memorably, horse-head bookends. Only 2-3 years into the early 80’s slasher cycle, this was the first film to spoof the genre. What I love about STUDENT BODIES is that of all the horror spoofs to come this is the only that really feels and looks right. It’s got that early 80’s horror photography, the cast of regular kid unknowns, and for all it’s corniness, there are real laughs here. So far, not available on DVD, but definitely try to track a copy down at your next local horror convention!

TERROR FIRMER: My favorite Troma film and one of my favorite horror-comedies. There’s something about the writing, the cast, and the energy of TERROR FIRMER that works so well that I find myself laughing at it every time I watch it again. A serial killer has infiltrated the cast and crew of Troma’s TOXIC AVENGER 4 and that brings on the pickle-sex, transvestite hermaphrodites, a disgusting death by escalator, and a lot more gore and sex where that came. The cast are all fantastic from Trent Haaga, in his first movie, to b-movie veteran Debbie Rochon, right down to director Lloyd Kaufman starring as the blind director. Written by James Gunn, who would later go on to write the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake (ok, ok, and SCOOBY-DOO).

SERIAL MOM: You probably have to be a fan of John Water’s unique brand of humor to really enjoy this one. Fortunately, I am. This one pops up on cable pretty frequently. Kathleen Turner stars as an ordinary housewife who slowly discovers she has this talent for murder. It’s never scary of anything, but does have it’s moments of brutality (a de-liver-ry by fireplace poker, and a fiery death by hairspray). Ok, it’s not my favorite John Waters film, or my favorite horror comedy, but I put it here because L7 are in it too. So there!