Broken Lizard's Club Dread DVD Review:

BROKEN LIZARD’S CLUB DREAD

Starring: Bill Paxton, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Steve Lemme, Eric Stolhanske, Brittany Daniel and Jordan Ladd

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar

Running Time: 97 mins

Certificate: 15

Retired rock star Coconut Pete (Paxton) now owns and runs Pleasure Island, the wildest resort in the Caribbean. As the new holidaymakers arrive on the island, some of the staff starts to go missing and their bodies start showing up all over the resort. The remaining staff realise they are been stalked by a serial killer and it is up to them to find out who is doing it with alarming the guests. The only problem is that they all suspect each other and are scared to death.

Cult comedy troop Broken Lizard takes a swipe at the slasher flick, mixing in their own unique sense of humour.

Taking best and worst from the 70s and 80s teen horror movies, the team has put together a parody of the genre, which is both funny and frightening at the same time. There are some genuine jumpy moments scattered throughout the film but each of these is followed by a funny line or joke to relieve the tension. This creates a strange hybrid of a movie that you don’t know whether to be scared of or laughing at.

All of the Broken Lizard team return after their first big screen outing in Super Troopers. Each of them is a gifted comedian in their own right and together they make an amusing ensemble. Steve Lemme is excellent as resort Romeo Juan, the man who is a hit with all the girls but hides a terrible secret. Kevin Heffernan is Lars, the man with the magic fingers but he is the new guy on the island and instantly the prime suspect. Paul Soter is stoner DJ Dave, Coconut’s Pete’s nephew and the one with the motive, as he is set to inherit the island. Director Jay Chandrasekhar is British tennis coach (A joke in itself) Putman, who is the butt of everyone’s jokes and could so easily crack at any moment. Eric Stolhanske is Sam, the fun police officer who insists that everyone has fun and can’t stand it when someone isn’t.

Supporting the Lizards on their tropical island of carnage are the beautiful Brittany Daniel and Jordan Ladd. Daniel plays the resort exercise instructor Jenny, the object of all the male attention on the island but she has just got her own aerobics TV shows after the original presenter mysteriously died. Ladd is the gorgeous but strange Penelope, a girl who is obsessed with Juan to the point that it is starting to creep everyone out.

The man supposedly in charge of resort is stoned out rocker Coconut Pete, played by a scene-stealing Bill Paxton. You can easily forget that the man has a gift for comedy as he plays the 70s musician, who loves himself and his drugs more than anything else, with great gusto.

Club Dread’s problems come when it is trying to decide exactly what it wants to be. On one hand it is a complete parody of a genre that is so easy to laugh at but then they mix in scares that some modern horror films would die to have. On minute you are laughing and the next you are jumping out of your skin. This isn’t really a bad thing but it does make the movie hard to categorise.

The Broken Lizard team have produced another entertaining film that takes the best and worst out of a genre and then plays them up to the camera. Club Dread is a fine example of this that will have you laughing and frightened at the same time. With a hysterically drawn out final confrontation with the killer and some genuinely funny performances from the team and the rest of the cast, this is an entertaining Mickey take out of a genre that is ripe for it.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, this is a very good transfer. The sharp picture quality captures the Mexican Island location superbly and never loses any clarity, even during the darker moments. The sound quality is also good, with a strong emphasis on dialogue but the surround sound comes into its own during the more frantic killer scenes.

This is also the extended cut of the movie that includes 15 minutes of extra footage.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary by Jay Chandrasekhar and Erik Stolhanske

The co-writer/director and co-writer bring you a chatty and fun commentary as they talk about bringing the latest Broken Lizard project to the silver screen. They explain the differences between the theatrical cut and the unrated edit of the movie, explaining why scenes where cut in the first place and the reasons behind adding them back into the DVD release. The pair also reveals how the stole the opening sequence from ‘The Beach’ and more about casting and characters of the movie.

Commentary by Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme and Paul Soter

The co-writers and stars of the movie bring you a fun and chatty commentary about the latest Broken Lizard big screen comedy. With loads of stories from the set and all of them taking the Mickey out of each other constantly, the three produce a really good track that will delight fans of the movie. They reveal the horror parody moments of the film and secrets about deleted footage that never made it into the movie.

Deleted Scenes (46.11 mins)

Entitled ‘The Tomb’, ‘Approaching the Island’, ‘Jungle invitation’, ‘Coconut Pete’, ‘Marcel’, ‘Putman’, ‘Go Go’, ‘Hank’, ‘Banana Leaf Hat, ‘Pep talk/Montage’, ‘Free Drinks’, ‘Pink Panty Meltdown’, ‘Spooky Cabana’, ‘Help Arrives’, ‘The Shower Scene (Mos)’, ‘Putting the clues together’, ‘Jenny’s Paranoia’, ‘Containing Lars’, ‘ An important announcement’, ‘DJ Dave’, ‘Carnage’ and ‘Island Chaos’, these 22 deleted or extended scenes can also be viewed with commentary by Jay Chandrasekhar and Erik Stolhanske. Some of these scenes make it into the extended cut of the movie.

Trailers

Previews of I, Robot, Man on Fire, Never Die Alone and Alien vs. Predator

Inside Look

Go behind the scenes of the creature effects for the upcoming movie Aliens vs. Predator.

OVERALL

Fans of Broken Lizard are in for a treat with this DVD. The two commentary tracks are very good and extremely funny and the plethora of deleted scenes is amazing. The lack of a making of… featurette is the only real disappointed as the extended version of the movie more than makes up for this. This is another well-packaged DVD presentation by Fox that will have fans rejoicing

DVD Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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