The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made
- Directed By: Bill Zebub
- Written By: Bill Zebub
- Country: USA
- Released: 2008
- Running Time: 110 Min
- Links: Official site
- Buy It: Amazon
- Comedy, Exploitation, Horror, Reviews
There is a category of films that are so bad they’re good. These are the films in which everything falls apart – often painfully so – but which are made with such an infectious enthusiasm that you find yourself drawn into the film in spite of its obvious flaws. This is also a category of film that cannot be deliberately made because, as soon as the filmmakers start winking at the camera, the sense of enthusiasm is lost. The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made sets out to be so bad it’s good.
The film centres on Bill (Bill Zebub) and Jeanne (Andrea Szel). During a game of strip poker, a badly punning axe murderer breaks into their home and starts killing their guests, but it’s not until a game of 52 card pick-up goes disastrously wrong that the couple decide to go on the run. If nothing else the changed circumstances will keep their relationship fresh.
Over the course of their travels, they encounter – or become – pretty much every monster that has ever been captured on celluloid – and them some. They also fight, argue and get into and out of a series of ever sillier scrapes.
As its title suggests, the film film sets out to poke fun at the many conventions to be found in the horror genre and and you certainly can’t fault the ambition of writer/director Bill Zebub who has managed to throw pretty much every horror movie stereotype into the film and then mock it mercilessly. Unfortunately, this has led to a film that is little more than a collection of unrelated jokes and one that has no real narrative to carry it forward.
The film also sets out to offend every sensibility going – an approach that is slightly undermined by the disclaimer that runs before the film starts – and, as with the genre stereotypes, there are some knowing smiles to be had, but no real laughs.
On the plus side, however, the film does have a surprisingly effective soundtrack and – as you would expect from a film such as this – there is plenty of nudity on show. Zebub clearly knows what an exploitation audience wants to see and sets out to provide it.
Ultimately, there is nothing really wrong with The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made, but there is nothing entirely right with it either. If you have a few friends over for beer and pizza, you could do a lot worse than putting this film in the DVD player – especially as it won’t really matter what you see or what you miss. But if you want to enjoy a genuinely funny exploitation comedy, you are probably better off checking out Metalheads.