Among them are: (a) sexual humor and bad language is a potent combination which almost always works, provided they aren't blatantly derivative from other films, (b) slasher films, more often than not, result in big returns at the box office and (c) if you can make fun of the slasher genre through sex jokes and bad language, well then that's cool too.
Apparently, the members of Broken Lizard comedy troupe have studied this recipe for laughter inside and out.
"Club Dread," the second outing from the Lizard troupe, is a film equal parts teen sex romp and horror flick parody. It's funny, but only within boundaries. These guys clearly know their audience, composed predominantly of high school and college kids old enough to grasp the Lizards' intelligent blend of screwball humor and lowbrow hijinks, yet young enough to still enjoy the film for what it is: crude and sophomoric, yet at the same time irreverently clever. Those looking for light laughter and clean fun should pass without reservation.
The film takes place on Pleasure Island, a swingers' resort in the Caribbean, where the daily activities are delicately balanced between beach volleyball and getting loaded by the pool. At the head of the island is Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton), a burnt-out, wet-brained one-hit wonder who struck gold with the song "Pina Colada-berg" back in the 1970s.
The only priority of the staff and clientele at Pleasure Island is to have fun at any cost, so much so that Pete safeguards the island with "fun police." All is well until the staff begins falling victim one by one to a killer who has run loose on the resort. The majority of the film follows the staff as they struggle to find the killer and get everyone off the island.
The style and humor of "Club Dread" draws many parallels to its predecessor "Super Troopers," where the Lizards' play inept highway patrol officers at odds with the state police. The film won a strong cult following on the strengths of its likeable characters and razor sharp one-liners.
Writers Jay Chandrasekhar (who also directed) and Kevin Heffernan approach "Club Dread" with the same philosophy.
Chandrasekhar plays Putman, a British Rastafarian and the island's tennis instructor who has eyes for Jenny (Britanny Daniel), an aerobics instructor who won a highly sought after TV spot at the expense of one of the other instructors on the show. Heffernan plays Lars, a large, scraggly-haired masseuse whose touch is so powerful he can make others wet themselves. The other Lizards' slip into similarily offbeat roles, including Juan (Kevin Lemme), a staff member who's English is less than stellar, Dave (Paul Souter), the island DJ and pill-popping raver, and Sam (Erik Stolhanske), the chief of fun police.
The film, as mentioned, parodies slasher classics such as "Halloween," an audacious task considering that "Scary Movie" covered the genre with not one, but two sequels. Yet while that trilogy wore thin pretty quickly — ranging from hilarious to abhorrent in rapid succession — the Lizards' have here produced a parody with enough stamina to produce consistent laughs.
Still, "Club Dread" stumbles upon a few rough spots along the way, steering it away from parody perfection. Clocking in at 103 minutes, it runs longer than many of the movies it satirizes. Some of the gimmicks are dragged out too long, particularly the false alarm sequences.
Chandrasekhar also lends the film too much to discussion among the staff about who the killer is, some of which would have fit better on cutting room floor than on screen.
"Club Dread," while thin in some areas, serves its purpose for the most part. In a time where theaters are overloaded with stale teen comedies, the film offers a smart, raunchy comic sensibility often lost among many of its contemporaries. It's not for all tastes, but "Club Dread" will likely provide fans of the Lizards' stupider than thou brand of comedy with enough material to feed off of until the troupe's next offering.