STREAM QUEEN: darkly comic quickies

I feel like I’m starting more and more blogs off with “I’m a whore when it comes to (insert subgenre here).” So, ditto for horror comedies and dark comedies. Naturally, I throw any shit that hits streaming and fits the bill into my watchlists. Let’s see how it works out for me with the latest five flicks I touch upon briefly in this blog.

‘TIL DEATH DO US PART (2002)

This one is a sort of spoof of backwoods horror that’s more about the stalkees than the stalker. A straight couple is on the verge of breaking up, he’s a writer with writer’s block, so they decide the quiet of a camping trip might fix all their problems.

Interestingly, their relationship is kind of charming and they seem to get along fine. The film is framed by the man narrating about their trip as he’s writing, and also cuts to funny messages they’re receiving on their machine back home while they’re gone, such as one caller warning them not to go hiking because someone was found dead in the very area to which they are traveling…

There’s some cute humor here but not much horror, for we barely see the killer and there are no kills to string us along – just the couple’s campy banter, which is interrupted when they find a not very scary lair (because it’s just a tent). The guy’s laptop disappears, so they start tracking the stalker they realize is tracking them!

It’s then that things take a rather whacky turn, and the movie really finds its unique voice for the final act.

BUT, it’s still focused on the couple, not the killer (meanwhile, I’m focused on the guy’s ass)…and it takes place entirely during the day…and it gets a little spiritual.

Just keep all that in mind going into this…which you probably won’t even do after reading this.

JUST BURIED (2007)

In this dark comedy, y2k teen flick go to geek Jay Baruchel (This Is The End) plays a guy who comes back to his hometown with his priest brother after their father dies.

Their father happened to own the funeral home, and Jay wants to sell it. But the mortician, played by Rose Byrne (Insidious, 28 Weeks Later) loves her job, and loves working there.

She also starts loving on Jay. As their romance blooms, they are involved in a car accident that could change Jay’s life forever. Lucky for him, Rose is a pro at handling a dead body…

But trying to keep the truth of what happened that night on the road a secret tailspins into making sure more and more people remain quiet. However, with the funeral home business suffering because of some competition, Rose sees a great way to, um, kill two birds with one stone.

It’s a delightfully wicked premise, and there are a couple of deliciously gory scenes, but the film is not kill-centric.

The humor is also somewhat lacking, so things began to drag for me as the focus became more on the bickering between the couple.

Just Buried kind of turns into an even darker War of the Roses.

AMERICA’S MOST HAUNTED (2013)

This is intended to be a horror comedy about a ghost hunting TV show crew haunted by actual ghosts.

As they are setting up at a new filming location and preparing some faux scares – because their viewing audience will get bored if nothing happens – there’s lots of banging, knocking, door slamming, and running around dark rooms with cameras.

One guy starts seeing ghosts through his camera lens, then they all start getting terrorized by them.

There are some mild laughs here and there, but I really was not feeling it overall. Bland, bland, bland.

James Karen of Return of the Living Dead fame has a brief role, but here he’s about as entertaining as the ghosts.

For stupid ghost-hunting horror fun, just watch Ghost Team One. That one’s a hoot, plus it’s pervy.

CRUSH THE SKULL (2015)

It’s a twist on the home invasion genre with this playful flick. It isn’t an over-the-top horror comedy, but a suspense film loaded with plenty of clever quips and smart commentary poking fun at horror clichés. And the good news is, it is intentionally funny, not like that laughable disaster Don’t Breathe, which left me totally deflated after all the absurd hype and raves it got.

First we meet our two main thieves, a guy and a girl, who almost get into trouble when robbing a house because the wife comes home with her boy toy, played by horror hottie Justin Ray (Apocalypse LA, Club Dead).

He ends up in the closet with the male thief, and all I could think is, “I so want these two cuties to come out of the closet together.”

Next, the thieving team joins forces with some other thieves for a bigger job…and a bigger hottie count.

The group breaks into their target home without a problem. But their crimes seem petty compared to what is apparently going on in this guy’s house based on the lair they stumble upon in the basement.

And don’t you know, before they can even steal anything and get the fuck out of there, the guy comes home…

The cast is a blast, the pacing is fast. Crush the Skull also delivers some twists, and the title makes sense by the time all is said and done.

Hey…is that a spot I see magically opening up on my DVD shelf for this one?

LITTLE EVIL (2017)

What director Eli Craig did for backwoods horror with the spoof Tucker and Dale vs. Evil he now does for The Omen!

Parks & Recreation’s Adam Scott (Hellraiser: Bloodline, The Return, Piranha 3D, Krampus) marries Evangeline Lilly (Lost), and quickly begins to realize there’s something very wrong with her five-year old son.

The boy is creepy as hell and very distant, but Adam tries to convince himself he’s imagining it. He even joins a support group for stepfathers, which includes the likes of Donald Faison of Scrubs and Chris D’Elia (Bad Girls From Valley High) of Undateable and Whitney.

Soon, there’s no denying scary shit happens around the kid – even the wedding photographer, played by Tyler Labine (Reaper, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Cottage Country), has video evidence.

Adam and his work buddy, played by comedian Bridget Everett in a gender-bending role, descend into the underground world of Satanism to learn the truth about the boy.

Lightly comic with plenty of in-jokes for horror fans, Little Evil reminded me of horror spoofs of the 80s, and features Clancy Brown (Pet Semetary 2, Hellbenders) as a reverend and fricking Sally Field as a social worker.

Like, you don’t understand. Me and the hubby were watching Little Evil with another gay couple we hang with, and we’re like the most boringly gayless foursome going, but when Sally entered the picture, we finally had a big gay moment together as we all squealed with delight.