Review: Funny Man

 

Benny Young wins a game of cards against Christopher Lee and the stakes included the keys to the latter’s ancestral home. Unfortunately the home is inhabited by an evil harlequin demon (Tim James) who has some bloody tricks in store for Young, his family, and the random hitchhikers who are also invited here for some reason.

 

This 1994 comic horror/fantasy oddity from writer-director Simon Sprackling (who mostly seems to direct documentary shorts about horror films and actors) has a bit of a cult following. I’m not a member of the cult. A bizarre, deathly dull British variant of “Leprechaun”, it’s not funny, it’s not scary, and the performances are absolutely pitiful. Sure, Christopher Lee is classy enough as usual, but his bit role is uninteresting and a waste of his talents and presence. Also, why is one character seemingly cosplaying as Velma from “Scooby Doo”? The character’s name is Thelma Fudd, if there’s a reason for any of this I wasn’t seeing it.

 

The idea of a harlequin or jester brought to life as a demonic killer isn’t an inherently bad one and the makeup is tops, but the execution of the entire thing is insufferable. Sprackling seems to have a music video style but absolutely no idea how to pace a scene. Scenes just drone on in search of a punchline that even when delivered, never really lands. The film has been horribly edited, directed, written, and acted. In particular lead actor Tim James has zero presence, zero menace, and isn’t remotely funny. He’s just some bloke the director ran into at the pub and slapped makeup on it seems like, with no thought to whether it suits the character. And yet he’s also a co-producer of the film, not just some rando off the street. At least Robert Englund (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”) and Warwick Davis (“Leprechaun”) gave committed, fully realised performances that matched their film characters and makeup. James just mutters away in a thick accent and indistinct enunciation to the amusement of seemingly only himself. Apparently a lot of his dialogue was improvised. I fully believe it. I also have to call out the music and sound in this film. The music score by Parsons/Haines (“Split Second”) is absolutely aggravating, full of overly loud musical stings. It’s an unbearably noisy film.

 

Irritating, stupid, and weird film with a cultish appeal that I for one cannot understand. Made by people with zero conception of comedic timing or with an aptitude for the horrific. I’ve seen more competent and professional movies from Troma and Uwe Boll, for crying out loud. The first 15 minutes and last half of the film are a trainwreck from an editing and coherence point of view. Awful film. 

 

Rating: D-

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