Club Dread (Jay Chandrasekhar, 2004)

I had stayed away from Club Dread for a while because I had heard nothing but terrible things about it. After seeing Beerfest, however, and realizing that hey, I think Broken Lizard is a group of really funny guys, I decided to give it a chance. Naysayers be damned, I am certainly glad I did. The movie is more or less a mock-up of 80s horror movies, although they don't really make fun of horror movies themselves. Maybe, then, it's more of an 80s horror movie with jokes. I'm not sure. But there's a Jimmy Buffet-type character (Coconut Pete, whose song "Pina Coladaburg" is enough to make the rental worthwhile) who runs a pleasure resort, and during this trip, staff members start being murdered. Simple enough plot, and not guaranteed hilarity, but the Broken Lizard guys really make it their own. They all have hilarious characters that seem like the annoying people you find at these resorts (my favorite being Putman, Jay Chandrasekhar in a great dreaded wig with a terrible British accent), and they put their all into these ridiculous characters. Plus, there's boobs. A lot of boobs, in case you care. There's really not much more that I can say, especially intelligently, about Club Dread, but if you enjoyed Super Troopers (which I think is great, if not a little overrated), give this underrated film a try. If you're not a fan of the stupid-smartish comedies of recent years, though, stay far, far away. 7/10

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