After a sojourn in the U.S. for a predictably needless PUMPKINHEAD sequel, Brit horror filmmaker Jake West returns to home territory for DOGHOUSE, the latest in the post-SHAUN OF THE DEAD cycle of British comedy-horrors. Like so many of the pretenders to SHAUN’s throne, that film’s depth, charm and wit are sadly notable for their absence, though its efforts to pull off a similar combination of banter, pathos and gore pay off with more in the way of consistent entertainment value than West’s earlier knockabout gore-fests RAZORBLADE SMILE and EVIL ALIENS.
Pic centers around a group of London buddies – a bunch of miserable, largely immature, typical men who have been variously henpecked, dumped and pussy whipped and who range from womanizing bastards to geekily tragic. Fed up with their lame love-lives or lack thereof, they set off on a man-only trip to the country to the remote village of Moodey, where the women vastly outnumber the men, and their plan involves getting shit-faced and shagging where possible. Thanks to a secret project, all the local women have been turned into ravenous, cannibalistic monsters in old-school EVIL DEAD-type demon make-up – with the potential to mutate into more elaborate monsters.
This eager-to-please low-budget movie consciously revels in its un-PC concept of a bunch of blokey-blokes beating the shit out of a bunch of broadly stereotyped, literally monstrous women. These scenes are funny and a little jarring at the same time, though the flick derides its male characters as much as it does their female counterparts. It does have pointed things to say about male attitudes toward women and its intended sexism is in this spirit – though, nonetheless, the script (notably during Stephen Graham’s climactic, inspirational speech) seems to have been written by a guy with some lasting resentment and bitterness toward the opposite sex.
In a movie that references UK TV’s football show MATCH OF THE DAY (via a ubiquitous ringtone) as much as it does THE EVIL DEAD (which is a lot), the laddish humor tends to overwhelm the actual horror, with gags about “bird flu”, women in toilets, fat women, men dressed as women, remote control cars, golf, football…and even a cheerful interlude involving remote-controlled women. It fades out in loving tribute to the ultimate male-bonding movie : the three surviving heroes go out in a blaze of glory against a vast army of “zombirds” in a freeze-frame final scene paying homage to BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.
It’s a very derivative and forgettable movie, erratic in its laugh count and perhaps more restrained in its splatter than it should be : considerably drier than either of West’s previous Brit genre films, this still delivers some decapitation and splatstick dismemberments. The appealing cast help give it momentum : Danny Dyer may be doing his usual Danny Dyer shtick as a cocky womanizer…but the shtick works. On an obvious pittance, West tries his best to give it some (borrowed) style and a lively pace, and on balance it’s a lot less obnoxious than, say, EVIL ALIENS. It’s also a lot of fun in its best moments, those involving comically rampaging zombie lollipop ladies, hairdressers, schoolgirls, zimmer-frame-using old ladies, etc. (Emily Booth is among the legions).
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
