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"Funny Man" DVD
So I've become convinced
that the Brits are pretty well on their collective way to a looney
bin.
I got all the proof I
need sitting right on my coffee table, and it's called "Funny
Man", someone's idea of a horror movie that really comes off
a lot more like a comedy.
For all you horror mavens
out there who stuck around through the latter half of the "Nightmare
On Elm Street" series, you're going to find a whole LOT of
common ground with "Funny Man" right here.
In fact, you're going
to find a disturbingly LARGE amount of common ground here. There's
so much common ground here that Freddy and the Funny Man are sharing
a bathroom and bitching at each other about who used the last roll
of toilet paper.
Which isn't to say that
we've got a bad movie on our hands here--no, quite the opposite.
The Brits have managed to pull off quite the coup, taking an antiquated,
tired old plotline (man wins house in card game, man discovers house
is inhabited by evil jester demon, man's family is messily and somewhat
comically killed by said evil jester demon, man is involuntarily
committed following him being discovered...well...I'd explain how
but it'd ruin the last thirty seconds) that should never have worked
and making a halfway decent movie out of it.
There's a lot to like
about "Funny Man". Check out the hitchhiker at the five
minute forty six second mark. If you're not seeing a resemblance
somewhere, then jinkies, are you ever a moron.
And if you didn't get
it after THAT, then if you email me objecting to my use of the term
"moron" I will spend the next several hours laughing at
you.
But anyway...the twenty
one minute mark is going to start one of the funniest things I've
seen in a horror movie in a long time, fourth wall violations be
damned.
And yet, at the same
time, there are going to be a whole lot of fourth wall violations
in this sucker. I don't think there's a fourth wall left standing,
the sheer number of times they broke through it. Again, more common
ground with the Elm Street crew.
If you liked the "Nightmare
on Elm Street" series, then you will have absolutely no trouble
liking "Funny Man". If you thought Freddy and company
were just another bunch of cookie-cutter slasher types, then you
should probably stay far, far away from this one.
There's going to be a
lot of Elm Street-style craziness around here, involving jumper
cables and enormous lines of coke and hot Jamaican chicks who grow
gatling guns in their hands and plenty more.
In fact, the craziness
carries on right through the credits.
The ending, for example,
will feature aging rockers, the wanton destruction of ceramic lawn
gnomes, disembowelments, involuntary committal, truly goofy statuary,
and the last thirty seconds will be either ironic or just completely
unexplainable, I can't quite tell which.
Plus, stick around through
the credits. Christopher Lee will sing with what sounds like a children's
choir.
See what I mean?
The special features
include the original short version of "Funny Man", which
is really just a scaled-down version with different actors and a
much more alarming ending. Plus, we get a trailer for the scaled-down
version and the full version, plus a making of featurette, promotional
material, and an interview with Christopher Lee.
Plus, the DVD itself
will include a filmmaker's diary which includes a glossary of several
distinctly British terms you'll hear in the movie.
All in all, once you
get past the massive common ground this shares with "Nightmare
on Elm Street", and once you can make sense of the dialogue,
you'll likely find "Funny Man" to be worth a rental.
OVERALL
GRADE: No stars
Funny
Man
***
DVD
Directed by Simon Sprackling
Written by Simon Sprackling
Starring Christopher Lee, Tim James, Benny Young, Matt Devitt
Produced by Nigel Odell
R
89 min
1994 (2006 rerelease)
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