Arts & Entertainment
 

'Dread' scares up few new fans, fewer laughs

Broken Lizard tries to renew stale formula, fails in everything but box office death

by John Seaborn Gray
The Daily Cougar

For some reason, the members of hit-and-miss comedy troupe Broken Lizard decided to make a horror movie parody. But it's already been done three times, in fact, and that's only looking at the Scary Movie series. So, in order to avoid repetition, Broken Lizard scaled back the parody element and decided to make a funny horror movie. What ends up on screen is something that doesn't directly poke fun at other horror movies, but has its own unique story, plot and characters.

The comedy comes from a few ridiculous situations (someone tries to flee in a golf cart, someone else is killed while dressed as a pear), but mostly it comes from the dialogue. Characters throw off one-liners and adlibs with reckless abandon, which would be a good thing, except less than half of the lines that are supposed to be funny actually are. 

The movie follows the old 'whodunnit' formula. Bill Paxton plays Jimmy Buffet clone Coconut Pete, who owns an island resort where all the other characters come to either take vacations or work at the resort. Paxton is funny in his role, but you get the distinct impression he could be funnier.

As for the Broken Lizards themselves, they've undergone some persona changes from their previous outing Super Troopers. All of the Lizards play very different characters, which is admirable, except for one gaping flaw: none of them are particularly funny. Again, it is mildly amusing. 

Be forewarned: The tone of the movie isn't as madcap as it was for Super Troopers. There are long, tedious stretches where Club Dread can't find any jokes to make, so the filmmakers play it straight. But there's another big problem -- the horror movie elements aren't any better than the comedic elements. All of the standard horror clichés are touched upon. Benign characters constantly pop onscreen and scare each other, the killer simply refuses to die, etc. These conventions are alternately used with a straight face and in a comedic fashion, so that you're never exactly sure where the movie is trying to go.

Some of the scenes come off very well, and the cast seems to be having a good time. But it's just not enough to make this movie something special. 

Perhaps the most telling point about Club Dread is that the best thing about the movie is the real-life game of Pac-Man the characters play inside a giant hedge maze. It really does look like fun. 

Club Dread

Rated: R

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffermen

The verdict: For diehard Broken Lizard fans only. Everyone else: wait for video or skip altogether.

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