Category: Comedy

Really Awful Movies: Ep 222 – Killer Condom

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Killer Condom! The title is pretty self-explanatory. Leave it to Lloyd Kaufman, one of our heroes, to pick this thing up for North American distribution so that people on these shores could be Troma-tized by the film.

A German language comedy horror set in New York City, Killer Condom does what few comedy horrors have managed to do, and that is successfully mix horror and comedy in equal measure. That’s not an indictment of comedy-horror at all, it’s merely the fact that one usually comes at the expense the other.

Set in squalid pre-Giuliani New York City, Killer Condom follows our grumbling, embittered hero, gay Detective Luigi Mackeroni (Udo Samel). The NYPD man has been hired to investigate a series of bizarre attacks at the Hotel Quickie, a 42nd Street flea-bag motel where male guests have all had their penises mysteriously chomped.

While at the scene, he hooks up with a gigolo named Billy and invites him up to the scene of the crime. Before the twosome engage in sex, a carnivorous living condom coitus interrupts them and bites off Mackeroni’s right testicle.

Down one ball, Mackeroni makes it personal. He begins a quest to bring a halt to the tumescent tumult.

Surprisingly heart-filled, Killer Condom is a whimsical delight.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 212 – Grabbers

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Grabbers! Grabbers! What’s a grabber? It’s some kind of octopus-like tentacled creature.

On this St Patrick’s Day episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we talk Ireland, JP Donleavy, Brendan Behan, Father Ted, pub culture, drinking, and cultural similarities between Canada and Ireland.

We have quite a few listeners in Ireland, and we thought we’d reach out to them and say “hi.” And what better way to do it, than through a fun, crazy, booze-fueled Roger Corman-esque tale?

Grabbers starts out with trawler fishermen who encounter strange tentacled things out on the high seas, later dubbed “Grabbers” by one of the denizens of a nearby island when they’re attacked by the creatures.

Have no fear, there’s a police presence. Barely. Garda O’Shea (Richard Coyle) is a useless drunk who barely keeps things in check in terms of getting folks to uphold the law. His partner, Nolan, is fresh from fighting real crime in Dublin. She’s visiting the island for a brief stint, to get away from big city problems.

Once the Grabbers take a foothold, it’s up to these two to marshal the forces of the island to combat them.

Turns out Grabbers are allergic to booze. Alcohol is toxic to these creatures, so this is used to wonderful comedic effect to rebuff them. The film turns into Assault on Precinct 13, with a publican and his patrons battening down the hatches to battle these beasts, all the while getting “pissed as a newt”. Sh*tfaced. Drunk as a lark. Drunk as a lord. Pissed.

If you’re a fan of monster movies, you’ll find yourself enjoying Grabbers. There are delightful characters, choice references to similar films (Predator and Alien) and compelling performances all around.

Join us every Friday on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, subscribe, and listen to fun (occasionally informed) genre film chat.

 

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 189 – The Love Guru

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Whoa.

2008’s The Love Guru, pretty much sank Mike Myers. And that’s a DAMN shame. It’s a terrible movie, to be sure, but a terrific comedic talent like Myers, deserves another shot.

Despite supporting cast-mates like Justin Timberlake, Stephen Colbert, Jim Gaffigan, John Oliver and Sir Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru really lays a big-time egg. This is a monumental stinker, and while not on the level of Master of Disguise, it’s still something to behold. Juvenile zingers, tepid puns…sure, these were present in Austin Powers, but that had an indelible (eponymous) lead that left his mark on pop culture forever.

Not so here.

The Love Guru is lost in no man’s land, neither satirical enough to pot-shot self-help culture, nor lascivious enough to be a Charles Manson-type figure. It just hangs there on a vine.

In a nutshell (“help, I’m in a nutshell!” – see, Austin Powers was the kind of quotable film The Love Guru is not), Guru Pitka is brought in to help a Toronto Maple Leaf star get back together with his wife, so that he can win the Stanley Cup, and help get the Guru to the top of the Guru heap (usurping Deepak Chopra).

Behold, the movie that left Mike Myers in the dust as a comedic force.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we talk about:

  • Scarborough, the east end of Toronto that inspired some of Myers’ greatest characters, such as Wayne Campbell.
  • The early days of SNL
  • Mike is back, as the host of, of all things, The Gong Show?
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs, our sorry excuse for an NHL team, once mighty, and now pretty much a shell of their former selves (or, uh, selfs?)
  • Why is it that comedians in movies have such a short shelf life?
  • What should Myers do next?