Club Dread Review

Leave it to the guys at Broken Lizard to create a parody of a slasher flick, and make a totally awesome horror movie along the way. Unlike Scary Movie and other films that try to play up the comedy angle, this one does it in a way that actually does quite well in terms of staying true to the 1980’s ridiculous horror movie cliché. I liked it, and therefore here is another attempt at a review for this horror movie website.

A private island resort opens up with a guy named Coconut Pete and his group of idiot mates. The Pleasure Island crew gets a mash up of faces that you might be familiar with from the Club Dread comedic troupe and as we are introduced to each one all over again, we start to see where this film could end up going. The jokes are quick one-liners and random situational comedy moments until a killer starts taking out people to the tune of one of Coconut Pete’s tunes.

The murders on the island are sometimes comedic, but more than anything they are gorey, and far more than just played up for the comedy, especially in the case of some of the ones that end up running away. The natural course of slasher cinema takes its toll here and we see a lot of great points of interest including the old “who’s the killer” swerve that is often times the focal point of these films. Right when you think it’s one person, the plot kills them off and we start all over again.

Towards the end of the film, everything starts to unravel and we start to see the true nature of each remaining crewmember, and even Coconut Pete has some skeletons in the closet. The film runs into some ridiculous moments, then as the crew starts to flee the island, we get the ultimate death sequences where people have to fight of the real killer, only he doesn’t want to die! He comes back several times, which is great for comedy and horror things.

The movie is supposed to be a comedy, but I found the slasher elements far more amusing then just the sex jokes, the constant homage to Jimmy Buffet and other funny moments. I found the plot swiftly moving forward, even when I was getting tired of the subplots involving Jenny and Penelope but whatever. The film takes some interesting turns here and there, and looks great on blu ray. I enjoyed it a lot, even though I should’ve been laughing more. I liked this one, and amidst a lot of horror movies that just don’t get the slasher movie formula quite right, this one does it well enough to get a passing rating by me. Check it out, it’s not for everyone, but it’s still worth a shot.