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Club Dread

2004, Movie, R, 97 mins

Club Dread: Review

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Broken Lizard, the comedy team responsible for the cult hit SUPER TROOPERS (2001), reunite for this intermittently funny but overlong parody of 1980s-style slasher movies. It opens as a new group of eager travelers arrives at Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island, Costa Rica's premiere party resort. Run by perpetually inebriated rock singer-turned-entrepreneur Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton), it promises around-the-clock sex, booze and loud music. The non-stop party is overseen by Pete and his dedicated staff, including nubile aerobics instructor Jenny (Brittany Daniel), chick-magnet dive master Juan (Steve Lemme), haughty tennis pro Putman (Jay Chandrasekhar), Ecstasy-fueled DJ Dave (Paul Soter) and Sam (Erik Stolhanske), head officer of the island's "Fun Police." Their newest member is gentle giant Lars (Keven Heffeman), whose magic fingers and Zen manner have just landed him the job of masseuse. Things get off to a rousing start — beer flows freely and hook-ups are plentiful — but the fun ends when staff members start turning up dead, their corpses accompanied by cryptic messages. Even worse, the resort's only two boats are missing and the telephone and radio lines have been severed, cutting them completely off from the mainland. Pete and the remaining employees try to keep the gruesome murders under wraps while searching for the killer's identity. Could it be the mysterious new guy Lars? Or Penelope (Jordan Ladd), the strange girl who follows Juan everywhere he goes? Or maybe local legend Machete Phil really does exist and is out to kill the entire staff? As the body count grows, everyone becomes a suspect and soon there's no safe place left to hide. In the wake of the SCARY MOVIE trilogy and such tongue-in-cheek slasher films as FREDDY VS. JASON, another horror movie parody seems more than a little unnecessary. As writers, the five members of Broken Lizard never really find a fresh angle on the material. But, as actors, they're an appealing group and can often wring a laugh out of their lamest punch lines. Casting Paxton as '70s refugee Coconut Pete was a smart move; armed with a guitar and a mean 5 o'clock shadow, he hams it up in grand style. Like SUPER TROOPERS, the film's biggest flaw is its excessive running time: The jokes start wearing thin after the first hour and, by the time the credits finally roll, it's become the kind of straightforward gorefest it started out ridiculing. leave a comment --Ethan Alter
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