Carlos Prime [Celluloid 09.25.16] horror comedy



[Editor's Note: Be sure to join us on Facebook for news and contests and even more discussion of awesome movies, books and TV!]

Most ghost stories in the West consist of bedsheet-covered, lamenting souls looking to finally finish their unfinished business. Which makes me glad when we see a Thai film involving the supernatural. Not just because we get to see floating heads attached to internal organs, complete with glowing rectums. But also because those floating heads have an affinity for biting and licking the rear ends of all mortals they encounter.

Yeah. These spirits are into that.

Foraging for food, a handful of villagers come upon a colony of luminescent bugs and, naturally, decide to eat them- not knowing the sinister consequences of such a diet. Turning into the creepy, floating severed heads that love butts, they terrorize the remaining villagers. After coming to terms with the true nature of their tormentors, the villagers begin formulating plan after plan to survive and eventually confront the weird and frothy evildoers.

With goofy situational humor and accompanying sound effects on top of the action, The Dwarves Must Be Crazy plays like a Three Stooges movie without any clothing. Time after time our tiny reluctant heroes wiggle and squirm through the remote jungles of Thailand, seeking a remedy for their fallen comrades. With obstacles that test both their physical fortitude and capacity for courage, a comical death seems certain at nearly every turn in their journey.

Exploitational, but direct in its absurdity. A good deal too focused on its own obsession with excrement, urination, and farting, there’s likely a great disconnect with audiences who are used to something beyond Larry-The-Cable-Guy-levels of humor.

Occasional choreographed dance routines and a power-ballad-music-video-styled nostalgic flashback sequence add bizarrely enjoyable departures from the simplistic style. Trying the old Scooby-Doo stack-up-and-wear-a-trench-coat trick (sans trench coat) a few times doesn’t save the film from its real design: a 90-minute fart joke.


Imagine Larry, Moe, and Curly fighting the ghost of Fleece Johnson.




Recommended Release: The Gods Must Be Crazy 1 & II

You might also like

Leave a comment

Your Comment