Pulpmovies Reviews

Merv Doody (James Heathcote) knows his horror films and fits very easily into the movie-geek stereotype. Living with his gran, in an attic room plastered with horror film posters, his rather monotonous life is broken only by regular trips to the local video store where he is subjected to the amorous attentions of Abby (Nicola Connell) who works there. Merv’s best friend is Onkey (Dan Palmer), a self-centred slacker who works at the local bowling alley and wishes that he was a lot cooler than he actually is.

The inevitable – and slightly over-long – prologue informs us that thirteen years previously, the school dork had been bullied to the point that he promised to return to wreak revenge. When he does escape from his mental institution, however, he discovers that the school has been closed and demolished.

Ultimately, this frankly hopeless serial killer manages to find his way into Merv’s home, the two friends decide to help him reach his full potential. They come up with a costume for him - an orange jumpsuit and hockey mask - and try to teach him to use a chainsaw.

All goes swimmingly until this gently unhinged vegetarian finally finds his inner serial killer and goes on the rampage, leaving Merve and Onkey to try and clean up the mess they have created.

Billed as a horror-comedy, Freak Out leans much more towards being a comedy than being a horror film and the central joke is that, for most of the film, the serial killer is not only utterly useless, but a bit wet as well. Unfortunately, this is a joke that really doesn’t stretch to an hour and a half.

To be fair, the film certainly doesn’t drag and writers Christian James and Dan Palmer have packed the film with references to a whole slew of horror films from Psycho to Scream. While it is initially mildly entertaining to play ’spot the film,’ the jokes themselves become a bit leaden after a while – more Scary Movie than Scream – and you find yourself wanting a bit of narrative to hold it all together.

It doesn’t help, either, that neither of the main characters are particularly likeable. Onkey is a dickhead rather than the loveable rogue he would like to be and Merv is just a bit bland. Consequently, when things do go wrong for them, they haven’t earned enough sympathy for anyone to really care.

Freak Out does represent a tremendous achievement. The people behind this film have come from nowhere to produce something that made it onto an Anchor Bay two disk set. The film very rarely betrays its low-budget origins and both the performances and the comic timing of the actors is pretty solid throughout.

However, it is a collection of jokes – some of which are better than others – rather than a funny film. That said, many horror fans will find much to enjoy in the films referencing of genre classics – predominantly from the 1980s – and if you enjoy a bit of juvenile humour with your gore then this is the film for you.

For the rest of us, though, I think Christian James’ next film will be well worth seeing. There is a huge amount of potential here, as well as the determination to make it happen, and sooner or later these people are going to come up with something truly amazing.

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