So I’ve become convinced that the Brits are on their way to a looney bin.
I got all the proof I need sitting right on my coffee table, and it’s called “Funny Man”, someone’s deranged idea of a horror movie that really comes off a lot more like a comedy.
For all you patient horror mavens out there who stuck around through the latter half of the “Nightmare On Elm Street” series, you’re going to find a LOT of common ground with “Funny Man”.
In fact, you’re going to find a disturbingly large amount of common ground here, like a big gaping hole in the middle of the universe big. There’s so much common ground here that Freddy and the Funny Man are sharing a bathroom and bitching at each other about who used the last roll of toilet paper.
Which isn’t to say that we’ve got a bad movie on our hands here–no, quite the opposite. The Brits have managed to pull off quite the coup, taking an antiquated, tired old plotline that should never have worked and making a halfway decent movie out of it.
Said antiquated, tired old plotline–man wins house in card game, man discovers house is inhabited by evil jester demon, man’s family is messily and somewhat comically killed by said evil jester demon, man is involuntarily committed following him being discovered…well…I’d explain how but it’d ruin the last thirty seconds.
There’s a lot to like about “Funny Man”. Check out the hitchhiker at the five minute forty six second mark. If you’re not seeing a resemblance somewhere, then man, do I feel for you. If it were any more out in the open you’d be tripping over it.
But anyway, the twenty one minute mark is going to start one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a horror movie in a long time, fourth wall violations be damned.
And yet, at the same time, there are going to be a whole lot of fourth wall violations in this sucker. With the sheer number of times they broke through it, I genuinely don’t think there’ll be a fourth wall left standing. Again, more common ground with the Elm Street crew.
You will have absolutely no trouble liking “Funny Man”, assuming the thought of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series still fills you with an unfathomable and vaguely creepy joy. If you thought Freddy and company were just another bunch of cookie-cutter slasher types, then you should probably stay far, far away from this one.
There’s going to be a lot of Elm Street-style craziness around here, involving jumper cables, enormous lines of coke, hot Jamaican chicks who grow gatling guns in their hands, and plenty more.
In fact, the craziness carries on right through the credits.
The ending, for example, will feature aging rockers, the wanton destruction of ceramic lawn gnomes, disembowelments, involuntary committal, truly goofy statuary, and the last thirty seconds…well…that’s going to be one for the ages. Trust me on that one.
There’s even a really big surprise over the end credits where Christopher Lee will sing with what sounds like a children’s choir.
See what I mean?
The special features include the original short version of “Funny Man”, which is really just a scaled-down version with different actors and a much more alarming ending. Plus, we get trailers for the scaled-down version and the full version, a making of featurette, promotional material, and an interview with Christopher Lee.
Plus, the DVD itself includes a filmmaker’s diary which includes a glossary of several distinctly British terms you’ll hear in the movie.
All in all, once you get past the massive common ground shared with “Nightmare on Elm Street”, and once you can make sense of the dialogue, you’ll likely find “Funny Man” to be worth a rental.
