Comedy Archives - Page 2 of 2

M3GAN (2023)

Posted on February 7, 2023October 5, 2024 by fenrisfil

Time for my first review of a 2023 movie. In what is already looking like a decent year for horror (Possibly just because we don’t have another bad Halloween sequel to deal with, though we do have an Exorcist remake to be annoyed at later in the year), one of the first to hit theatres this year was the AI gone rogue/Killer doll movie “M3gan”.

Viral Marketing.

This has been building itself a nice bit of hype as the release date drew near and featured an interesting viral marketing campaign a little reminiscent of the one used for Smile. The main feature of the campaign was creepy M3gan doll dancers turning up in high profile events/locations. The campaign also had some fun on Twitter with some playful interaction between the M3gan account and the Chucky one. Both being owned by the same company, you have to wonder if a crossover is on the cards.

But anyway, what about the film itself? Helmed by “Housebound” (2014) director Gerard Johnstone but from the mind of Horror legend, James Wan (scripted by Wan’s “Malignant” (2021) collaborator Akela Cooper), M3gan stars Allison Williams as under pressure robotics engineer and toy maker “Gemma” and upcoming child actress Violet McGraw as her orphaned niece “Cady”. The titular character herself is a mixture of animatronics, body actress Amie Donald (provider of M3gan’s dancier moments), and voice actress Jenna Davis.

The Set Up.

The story is pretty simple and built around two key strands that intertwine. One is a much more personal story about Gemma and Cady. Gemma is a woman that clearly put her career first in life, largely driven by her inventive nature and ambition to break new ground with technology and AI. Suddenly she has found herself as guardian to her young niece after both the girl’s parents are killed in a road accident. Cady is obviously traumatised by the experience and Gemma doesn’t really know how to cope and is torn between trying and attempted to hit deadlines at work.

The second part of the story is in Gemma’s passion project “M3GAN” an AI robotic doll, that she has been working on in semi-secret (much to the chagrin of her bosses). After a failed test she was told to abandon work on the project and return to the next line of fury robotic toys that her company is famous for. However after sharing her designs with Cady she realised that she could perhaps kill two birds with one stone by having a prototype of her design bond with Cady, helping her through a tough time while also allowing Gemma to spend more time with her niece while she works. Good intentions it seems, but that road to hell is paved with just those sort of intentions.

Comedy and Critique.

What we see unravel then is a fun horror/comedy wrapped around a quite intelligent critique of both irresponsible science and parenthood. It is a double mistake that ends up costing several people their lives. Cady ends up become so emotionally bonded to M3gan that the relationship has become unhealthy, meanwhile the capabilities of the doll to learn and adapt to the emotional state of it’s primary user has led to the AI become dangerous unstable itself. Meanwhile Gemma’s focus on making the product a success has lead to her missing the warning signs of both issues. I couldn’t help but be reminded of that line from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”. It definitely applies here.

Friend, Entertainer, Murderer.

But that’s the nuts and bolts, what makes the film really work is the fun approach to the character. Really gave the movie a sort of 80’s feel in it’s slightly silly approach where the killer is firmly there to entertain the audience first instead of just terrify them. That said though, she certainly ups the creepy factor when needed. The doll taps into a lot of horror history, providing some fun “Chucky” like moments, some parts with more in common with “The Terminator” and a good helping of “Village of the Damned” too, with it’s creepy dead eyed children.

The doll appears realistic and humanlike at one moment (going into dance routines for example) and then in a moments notice changes into something far scarier, with a clear influence from the movement patterns of the more impressive Boston Dynamics robots. It’s those moments that M3gan transitions between lifeless doll, imitation little girl and savage robot that makes the movie really work and the great thing is those moments can be moving, scary or funny depending on what was needed at the time.

Conclusion

M3gan is a straight forward movie and makes for easy viewing, which is really what you want from a Horror Comedy. It’s a fun movie but most importantly it firmly establishes a new member to the Horror Icon hall of fame. Even though horror has been making a big comeback in recent year, there hasn’t been many iconic characters added to the list. Indeed the last addition was probably Annabelle and that killer doll has been more miss than hit (“Creation” was fantastic mind). If you’ve only gotten into horror in recent years perhaps this won’t be what your looking for but if you were a Horror fan in the 80’s, I’m pretty sure you’ll love it. It’s a 7/10 from me.

The Munsters (2022)

Posted on October 2, 2022October 11, 2022 by fenrisfil

October Challenge – Day 2

I’m going horror adjacent with todays October review. There is definitely horror here, just more for the viewer than the characters. This is a difficult franchise to do in the modern day, but with Rob Zombie helming it, most had already written this off and assumed it was just going to be a self indulgent mess that mostly existed to showcase his wife Sherri Moon-Zombie. When the cast was announced and Sherri was as expected playing Lilly Munster, I think most horror fans knew what way it the wind was blowing.

Still, I decided to give the film a chance. In the 1980’s in the UK a lot of 60’s shows were regularly being re-run at around 5/6pm. The timing was about right for schoolkids like myself as the regular kids programming ended around 5pm and we always wanted more to watch (We were the MTV generation after all, we did a lot of TV). Amongst those shows was The Munsters, so I am well acquainted with the eccentricities and humour style of the TV.

Dead and Kicking.

To me it’s clear that Rob Zombie was trying to reproduce that style as true to the original as possible, but the fact is it doesn’t really work in the present day. Perhaps had he gone all the way and made the film in black and white it may have felt more authentic and perhaps some of the cheesier moments may have felt more charming than cheap. As it is, the style doesn’t really work. Anyone that hasn’t grown up watching The Munsters probably won’t even get what they are going for and just mark the entire movie down as just cheap and amateur.

Part of that problem may be due to the fact that many of the actors just aren’t that good. While they may be trying to act like characters performing for a sit com in front of a live audience, they always feel like they are trying a bit too hard. Over acting is abundant and while it’s clear that is meant to be part of the joke, it is also clear Rob Zombie doesn’t have the skills necessary to stop his actors slipping from soundstage sitcom and going full on pantomime.

Memoirs of an Invisible Plot

The second huge problem is the plot. Specifically, that there isn’t one. The entire film is basically set up as a prequel to The Munsters as we know them. Most of the film is set in a comedy version of Transylvania with them only arriving in America in the last twenty minutes. There is no real antagonist, just a vague plot involving a Lester, a Werewolf cousin and his debts to a loan shark Gypsy. Neither Lester nor the Gypsy are in the movie for probably more than 5 minutes and exist only to facilitate the move to the US in a way that is about as smooth as a truck drivers gear shift.

The film focuses on the romance between Lilly and Herman. Because this is a prequel, the kids have not even been born yet so the “Family” is literally just them and Grandpa. Daniel Roebuck incidentally is the highlight of the film in the role of Grandpa, but is a long way from being good enough to salvage this mess. At the least though, I respect the casting on that one. I also didn’t mind Sylvester McCoy as Igor. His tendency for over acting meant the former Doctor Who fit this movie like a glove.

Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun

Unsurprisingly the focus is on Sherri Moon-Zombie as Lilly, and her performance is probably the weakest of the film. Yvonne De Carlo is no doubt turning in her grave [Insert Vampire Joke Here]. Honestly though it’s hard to say if the problem is her acting or her husbands directing. There are fleeting moments of charm but not enough to make the performance passable. The romance between Herman and Lilly is not at all interesting or romantic and the whole time through I was just waiting for them to get past that bit and move on to the actual movie. But they never did.

The entire film feels like a first act, when they move to America it feels like we are entering the second act and the film is about to really get going. But then you realise we only have 20 minutes left. Enough time for a Cassandra Peterson cameo (Though not as Elvira) and not much else. After waiting the entire film for them to get to their iconic home, we are treated to about 10 seconds of the Munsters theme before the credits roll and switch to a new song, presumably written by Zombie. That’s it.

Don’t be fooled, it takes the entire film to get to this couch.

Conclusion (or possibly Concussion)

I don’t really understand who this film is for. Fans of the series will feel cheated by the prequel nature of it (I know I did) while people that aren’t fans will write it off as cheap, badly acted garbage. As far as I can tell the only audience for this film is Rob Zombie and Sherri Moon Zombie. I don’t know if The Munsters can still work in the modern day in live action, but it definitely can’t work with Rob Zombie directing. This film is a waste of time. I’m giving it a very generous 4/10. The movie tries hard but fails miserably.

Mayhem (2017)

Posted on November 16, 2021November 16, 2021 by fenrisfil

My movie of choice for the 3rd of October (as part of my horror per day challenge) was 2017’s “Mayhem” directed by Joe Lynch (A regularly contributor to Shudder’s “Creepshow” series and director of the fun “Knights of Badassdom” from 2013) and staring Steven Yeun (Glenn from the Walking Dead) and the always impressive Samara Weaving (Guns Akimbo, Ready or Not).

Hostile Witnesses

The film is set in a world that has suffered a huge viral outbreak…. I know, topical right? But this virus unique in that it basically reduces inhibitions and encourages violent outbreaks from those infected. Our setting for the film is the headquarters of a law firm that made it’s name in a landmark case involving this virus, where they established those infected by the virus can’t be held accountable for their actions (including murder). This provides both an amount of irony from the virus breaking out in this office and provides a key plot point since everyone involved is well aware that this legal loophole provides certain opportunities….

Our heroes were both wronged by the company, with Derek (Yeun) having just been fired for someone else’s mistake and Melanie (Weaving) having been screwed over financially. Both are about to be escorted from the building when the outbreak causes a lockdown and the pair become determined to take justice into their own hands. Initially just wanting to have their cases heard but with the virus infecting them too this progresses to seeking a far more violent confrontation.

Passing Judgement

The rest of the film is basically our heroes working their way through the building scoring a whole load of pay back in the process. Mayhem does indeed ensue as the movie title promised. Obviously this movie is light on plot, but it’s fast paced and Steven and Samara really did a good job. Both seem to be having a blast making the movie and I have to say they both deserve to be higher profile actors than they currently are.

The way the virus affects peoples inhibitions reminds me of things like David Cronenberg’s “Shivers” or the book “The Fog” by James Herbert, both of those though were pure horror while this is far more of an action/comedy movie that just happens to have some horror elements. The Law Firm setting provides the audience with villains that are easy to hate (Corrupt corporate lawyers) as well as making the outrageousness of their inhibitions seem entirely believable. The movie also does a good job of throwing out a number of “mini-boses” for our heroes to get past in order to progress, making the pacing a little bit like a video game. Really the simplicity of everything in this movie is what makes it work so well. This was a fun movie.