Hysterical

I just saw this movie on cable (not, I assure you, by design). The plot is pretty much as described here in the IMDb. "Hysterical" IS pretty hysterically awful, but it does not quite fit in the category of Movies So Bad They're Good. Yes, the plot is clichéd and predictable. Yes, it stars the Hudson Brothers, those inoffensive pop products from the Seventies who were quickly forgotten in the Eighties. I, for one, certainly hadn't thought about them since then and had no idea they'd made a movie. It also features a gaggle of supporting actors whose faces will be recognizable to anyone who watched movies and TV in the Sixties and Seventies or who watches TVLand today. The female lead is Cindy Pickett, who looks and acts so wholesome here that it's hard to believe she appeared in an earlier film, Roger Vadim's "Night Games," that was very erotic. She radiates essentially no sexual luster in "Hysterical." Still, the production values are surprisingly good for a bad movie. It looks and feels like a real movie; this is not Edward D. Wood stuff. The Hudson Brothers actually manage to work up a respectable comic energy. There are a few breakout scenes that are extremely funny, especially the big production number with dancing zombies in an amusement park, and a too-brief scene in which the brothers try to confuse some pursuing zombies with an impromptu doo-wop session. The movie also works in sendups of a lot of other films ("Vertigo," "Marnie," "The Rocky Horror Show," "Chariots of Fire," and "Night of the Living Dead," to name just a few). All in all, this is a movie that is fun to see once just for laughs.

How can someone not like this film? I mean, come on- it's not like when you sit to watch it you are expecting Citizen Kane or something! This movie is moronic and insulting, and more than likely will result in the loss of brain cells upon watching it. That's what makes it great. It's pure stupid humor that is intended to do nothing but bring about the occasional chuckle.

It's probably a little more over the top than your typical Zucker bros film (Airplane) and several of the jokes miss, but that's ok. Even the unfunny jokes are funny in their own way. This movie is comparable to watching a film some of your buddies made out of sheer boredom- even the unfunny stuff makes you laugh just because it is so ungodly stupid.

I honestly think that's what the makers intended. "You're doomed!" is a phrase all of my buddies and I used to utter to each other after watching this, and to this day I still hear the occasional Hysterical reference. It's certainly worth 99 cents at your local Blockbuster.

You may well be asking yourself, "Who are the Hudson brothers?". Rest assured, they aren't funny, as isn't anything in this unique oddity of a film. It almost has a style, in it's uniqueness, While still hearing echoes of, "You're doomed", said a score of times by one of the crazy characters in this piece, this just represents the painful void of humor. That aside, it still manages to be entertaining, as being different. Burt Cort is superb, and almost unrecognizable as a nutty scientist, and Richard Kiel as a ghost captain, is unforgettable, while Pickett turns in a cute performance, as the apple of our troubled lead's eye. All in all, this is still worth a watch, amid some real stupid annoying moments. No side splitting humor or humor of any kind, as the same with Yellowbeard. Sorry folks.

I usually couldn't stomach the Hudson Bros' brand of humor before this movie. I thought they were mindless morons, even as they related to fellow talk show guests. But I sat down in 1985 or so when this came out on cable and was pleasantly surprised at how funny this movie really is.

If you appreciated John Larroquette as D.A. Dan Fielding on TV's Nightcourt, you'll love him as Bob X. Cursion, the impudent but oblivious, pot-smoking boating tour guide in Hysterical.

And who couldn't be amused by Robert Donner as the "prophet" who, riding his rickety bicycle through the lanes of the lighthouse town warns, "You're doomed!"

Yeah, it's ridiculous and far-fetched, similar to some of the antics in Princess Bride, or The Burbs. My son, now 31, and I have talked about this movie for years, (not so with The Burbs). It's not in my top 20, but definitely worth renting if you want to see a funny "horror" movie.

I saw this movie when I was about 12 years old and taped it off of cable. I know that it was a cable edit because it contained the word "a**hole." But I caught it on cable the other night and noticed a scene that wasn't in the edit I have on tape. The big song and dance number at the fun park near the end. I was floored! So... can anyone else out there support my claim? I know that there is an edit floating around without the dance number. Either way... this movie isn't exactly brilliant. It was extremely fulfilling for me at 12, and now that I'm still emotionally 12 it's still pretty good. But your Leonard Maltin types aren't going to dig it.