I could go with the shortest review here and just say this is a bad movie just don’t watch it. Which is fine by me as just like an old school vinyl album its mine and for me to enjoy this one needs a lot of work to appreciate it and if you don’t put it in you won’t get it out. When I say work I mean time and appreciation of B movies and a B-movie icon. This one was released in 2007 and produced on a budget of $1.5m. Apparently it did manage to get to the box office and made a return of $173k which is a return. That lack of support at the box office was met by the critics with IMDb giving this a creditable 6.2 out of 10 and Rotten Tomatoes a very damp 38%. It stars Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorsen, Taylor Sharpe, Ted Raimi, James Peck, Ellen Sandweiss and Ben McCain. Written by Mark Verheiden, produced by Mike Richardson and Bruce Campbell whilst Campbell did the directing duties. Shall we dive into this detailed and complex plot then shall we?
Two young lads go out to a cemetery to meet with two girls. Stumbling on a mausoleum one of the boys Jeff removes a medallion which then releases Guan Di a Chinese God of the Dead and saint of bean curd. Killing the others Jeff escapes and decides he is going to need some help to take down this demon he released. Bruce Campbell is a failed movie actor living in a trailer and appearing in B movies such as his current film Cave Alien 2 and is promised a birthday surprise by his agent. Jeff arrives and kidnaps Bruce to take him to his home town of Gold Lick to fight Guan Di. Bruce assumes this is his treat a realistic adventure with a host of actors pretending to idolise him. Where in fact they are seeing him as the saviour of the town. Going through the motions he pretends to prepare for doing battle with the demon that is all make believe just to make him feel better where they are massaging his ego to get him to save their little town. What could possibly go wrong?
Entwined with the actions there is a musical interlude between scenes. Which is annoyingly funny with a tune that is so annoying it gets intrenched in your brain. I am singing it in my head as I am typing. There is an American playing a Old Chinese Guy which in this modern age would be seen as racist. Back then people were supposed to laugh at this. The fact the actor is playing about three or four different characters probably highlights the lack of funds to pay other actors to do the job. So I can forget a lot of things here but what this movie doesn’t allow you to do is enjoy it without being some what of a Bruce Campbell fan. Or at least a ‘B’ movie fan. As knowing the movie history of Bruce and the ego he plays in so many movies really helps precede this movie. Knowing this makes this movie work, but coming in blind to watch a film with actors you don’t know or referenced to movies you have never heard of this is really not for you. You will not get beyond the wafer thin plot and wooden acting of the main characters and the subtle references to countless other Bruce Campbell movies. This is a little thank you to Bruce’s fans, this is a little we appreciate your support as we make cr*p movie after cr*p movie with the hope that a gem will come through (oh and it does, but you have to be very patient). This is an ‘in joke’ movie which excludes so many people that the minority that was going to enjoy it was slimmed down way before it hit cinema screens let alone after the first review. So, I will not recommend you watch this one, but I will again and again knowing that I will no doubt be sat in the room on my own enjoying it by myself.
Next on my list is a kids movie straight from the sixties, that was a complete flop at the box office by then took the stage by storm in the West End and Broadway and still haunts many peoples dreams into their adult lives…
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