Fox Searchlight released Club Dread at the end of May. I watched it and found it entertaining, then debated until now about how to review this movie for this particular demographic.
Let me say at the very beginning, Club Dread is a movie made by young men for young men. It panders to poor taste by sexual inuendo and features many striking women wearing extemely little. This one makes for a good rental to be watched by a group of young, male, college-age friends. Every single woman in the movie is beautiful, shapely, appears in a bikini or skin-tight clothing, or less.
Some people really enjoyed 2002’s Super Troopers, also produced by the comedy group Broken Lizard and some people, like me, found it to be a little too much. Regardless, the comedy group that was behind that movie is back with Club Dread, a comedy-horror flick that is surprisingly entertaining, if you can overlook the over-the-top spoofing and frat house humor.
Club Dread is stupid. It has little redeeming value. That aside, I liked it. The humor, though at time gross, struck a cord with me. Club Dread succeeds by not being a spoof as much as a straight-laced comedy; as a horror movie it doesn’t quite work, but it doesn’t mock horror films the way Scary Movie (1 through 3) does, it mocks them differently.
Some of the scenes in Club Dread were mildly funny. I grinned several times, and actually cracked up once — I guess people dressed up in oversized fruit costumes get to me. It had so much potential. The movie does get better as it goes on, but it never comes together, it never is anything other than a bunch of pieces. Another part I enjoyed was the Pacman-like maze chase scene.
Since it comes from Broken Lizard, like Super Troopers, quality cannot be expected, frat-house-like humor should be taken for granted. Nonetheless, there are some good jokes. Bill Paxton is great as a Jimmy Buffet rip off act, and the music is great.
This movie could have been much better had Broken Lizard spent time working on a solid script rather than writing filler with random sex gags. Watch this movie expecting no more than a good looking film with a good looking, shapely cast, with a few funny one-liners and you could come out enjoying it more than expected.
And I should note that this is a two-sided release, one side pan and scan and the other side wide screen. The additional features, even though they may be called the same, are different. The wide screen side has richer extras than the pan and scan.
I give this movie 4 stars for outrageous ridiculousness. For the male teenage mentality, it also gets the four stars for gorgeous topless women and hard partying, and it gets 4 1/2 stars for the Jimmy Buffett references. “Piña-Coladaburg” is funny, at least to me.
For story, content, progression, and anything meaningful in watching a movie, it gets about 1/2 of a star. Overall probably about a 2 1/2 on the Couch Potato scale.
Give this movie a try. And be open-minded about it.
Cast: Bill Paxton, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Tony Amendola, Julio Bekhor, Brittany Ann Daniel, M.C. Gainey, Jordan Ladd, Samm Levine, Elena Lyons, Daniel Montgomery, Lindsay Price, Tanja Reichert
Club Dread (2004)
Rating (** 1/2 out of *****)
Synopsis: (Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Home Entertainment) With Club Dread , the twisted minds behind 2001's surprise hit comedy Super Troopers return with a machete and more laughs. This time, the Broken Lizard troupe--Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske--send up two genres at once, combining the spring break romp with the gory slasher picture.
It's spring break on Pleasure Island, Costa Rica, and bikini-clad revelers have just landed to spend the next week partying their days and nights away. There’s Dave (Soter), the drug-wielding DJ; Putman (Chandrasekhar), the ambiguously accented tennis instructor; Juan (Lemme), the diving guru; Sam (Stolhanske), the Fun Sheriff; Lars (Heffernan), the incredibly gifted masseur; and Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton), the flaky island guru.
Then there is Jenny (Brittany Daniel), the gorgeous aerobics instructor, and newcomer Penelope (Jordan Ladd), who falls under the spell of Juan. Unfortunately, someone else has arrived on the island with a machete and a severe dislike for several of the camp's residents. As the blood begins to flow, and flow, and keep flowing, everyone becomes a suspect, until no one can trust anyone else. Directed with a casual touch by Chandrasekhar, Club Dread proves that Broken Lizard is a very talented group of performers with the ability to find humor in the least likely of places.
DVD extras
Side One
Wide screen
• Audio Commentaries
1. Jay Chandrasekhar - Director
2. Broken Lizard Troupe - Stars
• Soundtrack Spot
Side Two:
Pan & Scan - 1.33
• Soundtrack Spot
