Club Dread, the latest film from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe,
is a funny send off on slasher films. Instead of camp counselors being slaughtered
at a summer camp in the woods, the staff of Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island is
the target of a crazed killer with a machete. Bill Paxton plays Coconut Pete as
a sort of washed up Jimmy Buffet who used the money he earned from his short
recording career to open up a Club Med-like resort on an island off the coast of
Costa Rica. Director Jay Chandrasekhar makes fun of slasher films from the very
first scene, when three horny staff members meet a gory demise in the jungle
surrounding the resort. The masked killer continues to kill more staff members
right under the noses of everybody at the resort, until the surviving staff
notices that their names are being marked off on the club's activities board.
The killer is also leaving clues in the form of lyrics from one of Pete's songs
on the blackboard. The gang listens to the song in an attempt to find out who
will be the killer's next victim, but no avail. Pete himself isn't even much
help; he has no idea what his own songs mean, especially since he freely admits
to not being very sober when he first recorded them (nor is he always very sober
these days, either).
The Broken Lizard members, who also gave us the flick Super Troopers, blend into
their new roles with ease. Chandrasekhar is funny as Putman, the dread locked
tennis teacher with a British accent. Steve Lemme as memorable as Juan, the
perpetually horny instructor of water sports. Paul Soter plays the spaced out
Dave, the island DJ and "pharmacist". Erik Stolhanske is appropriately geeky as
Sam the "fun police". And Kevin Heffernan is an unusual but good choice as Lars,
the new resort masseur who turns out to be the leading man of the film. The
non-members of Broken Lizard are also superb, including Brittany Daniel as Jenny,
the aerobics instructor who is the classic "good girl" in the Jamie Lee Curtis
tradition; Jordan Ladd, as an intense young woman who has a stalker-like interest
in Juan; MC Gainey, as Coconut Pete's chief of security, and Lindsay Price as Yu,
another member of the resort staff who learns the hard way that a golf cart does
not make the best getaway vehicle.
The DVD offers the movie in both widescreen and fullscreen versions. There's
also commentary by the Broken Lizard crew. And when the end credits roll, don't
shut the movie off just yet, for director Chandrasekhar has included some fun
outtakes at the end of the film. With scenes loaded with sex, drug references
and surprisingly gory violence (maybe not in the same league as the gore in the
recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, but there is gore all the same), this is not a film for
children. But horror fans with a sense of humor will enjoy Club Dread's take off on such slasher
clichés as the neverending climax with the unstoppable killer who will not die.
It takes a while for the film to finally get rolling, but once it does, it's an
enjoyable romp, sort of like a scary vacation in the tropics. --SF
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