"Broken Lizard's Club Dread"
* * 1/2
Starring Elena Lyons, Dan Montgomery Jr. and Tanja Reichert. Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar.
"Club Dread" is the latest production by the Broken Lizard's team of comedians who are best known for their 2001 film "Super Troopers." "Club Dread" is basically a slasher-satire movie in the tradition of films like the "Scary Movie" series and classics such as 1987's "Psychos in Love" made within the heyday of serious slasher flicks.
The movie takes place on an island holiday resort where all the main characters are employees of the camp who cater to a college student clientele. In the college student genre, this movie cannot compete with 2003's "Old School," and if you're looking to see another movie on the same level, this is not that movie.
Right from the start, "Club Dread" is stamped and delivered as formulaic, overdone and not welcome in the minds of an audience that has grown beyond the sophistication of '80s staples. There is an opportunity for nostalgia and this is what movies like the "Scary Movie" series have sought to cash in on through the use of allusion.
Refreshingly, though, "Club Dread" does not resort to parody or any direct references of popular culture. The movie flows well in most places and is an improvement over "Super Troopers" both in terms of the direction by Jay Chandrase Khar and the acting by the entire Broken Lizard troupe. Brittany Daniels and Bill Paxton give adequate performances that do nothing to further the movie, but also do little to derail the plot.
The movie does contain gratuitous levels of nudity and graphic displays of violence, but the Lizards do a good job of being aware of this and balancing it so that it does not interfere with the humour. In places, it dangerously teeters on the edge of becoming trite, but at these moments it takes surprising turns and pokes fun at itself. This self-referential humor reaches a peak in the hilarious closing sequence.
Among the individual performances, Steve Lemme reigns as the campy Latino fitness instructor Juan. From him comes many of the films jokes. Khar's performance as Putman is also impressive and equally entertaining.
The murder mystery itself is a weak plot, but it too is an improvement over the meandering and unfocused plot of "Super Troopers." With the plot, again the Lizards show great self-awareness by preceding the events of the second act with a hilarious campfire skit that explains it through an urban legend.
"Club Dread" lacks many things, sophistication being an obvious one. It, however, makes no attempt to become what it isn't. Those who see it expecting to be changed by the experience will be sorely disappointed and may feel the need to walk out. It is an entertaining addition to the Lizard's filmography that will perhaps suffer at the box-office more because of its distinctions in formula than the efforts of those involved.
