CarousHELL

In the grand tradition of zany, low-budget horror-comedy romps, has there ever been a concept this zany? Surely there have been few this low-budget. Surely there have been few this fabulously, unapologetically blunt, forthright, and deliberately overcooked in almost every way. Characters, dialogue, scene writing, narrative, acting, lighting, cinematography, pacing, direction, editing, effects, music, and all else are written and executed with astoundingly insincere bluster, conscious cockamamie baloney that throws all good sense out the window and dares us to hate it. There are dashes in 'CarousHell' of classic slasher vibes with an equine twist (get it? Because unicorn horns are usually depicted as a spiral?), and traces of supernatural horror, but the movie wantonly goes so far off the rails that any fragment of "horror" is relegated to no more than half the runtime. In its place we get extended referential humor, tongue-in-cheek mockery, plainly absurdist situational humor, exaggerated characters and scene writing, preposterous quips/one-liners/otherwise dialogue (including puns, naturally), sight gags, sex jokes - and, why not, gratuitous nudity. And it's a total blast!

For all the self-indulgent excess and bare-faced inauthenticity, however, nothing in 'CarousHell' is sloppy or accidental. Shoestring silliness is exactly what filmmaker Steve Rudzinski does, and there's stupendous wit and intelligence underlying every iota of indecent inanity. The root concept is brazen; the horror elements are secondary in execution and as ingenuine as they could be; the comedy is outrageous and overdone - yet all of it is totally by intent, and delightfully sharp. It's not especially often that a feature makes me laugh this much, but from start to finish I had such a fantastic time watching. Putting aside personal preferences - I completely understand how this won't appeal to everyone - the real criticisms that come to mind are very few. Even for folks like me who love what they see, I think 'CarousHell' struggles a bit at first to find its tone as early scenes establish the characters and scenario and set up the remainder; a title that's already an acquired taste initially comes off even more so. More substantively, some of the humor doesn't actually land; as funny as the film is for the most part, some attempted jokes are too indelicate to work, or border on outright offensive. Even for a picture so ludicrously off the wall, a few instances just don't pan out.

Yet when all is said and done these shortcomings are nothing compared to the riotous entertainment 'CarousHell' has to offer. Much careful thought and hard work went into making this nonsense a reality, and the payoff is tremendous. Why, for as over the top as many of the visual effects are, a particular few examples are unexpectedly great; one can't help but wonder if that's where most of the budget ended up going. Throw in some fun music, spirited and committed performances, and swell looks for each character that seem to have been devised among the contributors themselves, and this is just such a joy. I had mixed expectations from the outset, not just on the basis of this title alone but also formed from (limited) prior experience with Rudzinski's films (not all are equal), and they have been handily blown away. This will hardly be a feature that appeals to genre purists or broad audiences, yet for those open to all the wide, weird, wild possibilities that cinema has to offer, I think 'CarousHell' is marvelously enjoyable and well worth a mere 70 minutes of our time!

After being ridden by obnoxious child Lunchbox (Teague Shaw), sentient carousel unicorn Duke (voiced by Steve Rimpici) loses his cool and embarks on a bloody rampage. Can amusement park mascot Cowboy Cool (Frank Sidebottom's relation from across the pond?) save the day?

Sounds dumb, eh? And it is. Very, very dumb. And writer/director Steve Rudzinski clearly knows this. He doesn't allow dreadful acting and terrible humour stop him from committing his crazy vision to digital video. He doesn't let a budget amounting to little more than most films' toilet paper allowance to stop the fun. And I don't believe he gives two hoots what amateur reviewers like me think of the results. He's having fun with his fellow film-makers and that's all that matters to Steve.

I watched just to see how Rudzinski would bring his unicorn to life. The short answer is 'he doesn't', the thing remaining inanimate the whole time. I guess that's part of the joke. Sadly, the sheer stupidity of the basic premise can only go so far, and the rest of the film, which focuses on a group of friends having a party, unaware that the gaily-painted wooden unicorn poses a threat, is pretty tiresome, comedy not exactly being Rudzinski's forte. The humour is grating and the characters -- Preston (Chris Proud), a cut-rate Stifler wannabe; Lunchbox's social-media obsessed sister Laurie (Sé Marie); an incestuous Canadian brother and sister; and pizza delivery guy Joe (Rudzinski himself), who would rather be paid than have sex with Laurie -- are annoying.

The film is at its most fun when it's being gloriously trashy, the best bits being the laughably OTT kills and a spot of brief but welcome nudity: I particularly enjoyed the part where a guy gets the top of his head knocked off by a well-aimed unicorn kick, the juicy throat ripping, the melting head scene, and indie horror cutie Haley Madison, as unicorn obsessed Sarah, taking off her top to have sex with Duke. I wish that Rudzinski had given us more gore and T&A and less comedy; that said, I did giggle at the sight of the killer unicorn successfully disguising itself as a lamp.

My rating: 3/10. Not a very high score, I grant you, but that still makes it my second favourite killer unicorn film after The Cabin In The Woods.

This is hilarious. Although I'm sure a lot won't like it, but man I laughed.

Definitely low budget. Some good thought out ideas for scenes but overall bad acting and effects. Not much else to say

Watched this film as a joke, and ended up LOVING IT!!!! The entire film was HILARIOUS and I couldn't stop laughing! Possible the best film EVER MADE!!! So amazing and just absolutely PERFECT!! Low budget horrors are amazing anyway, but this goes absolutely above and beyond! Love it and 100% recommend anyone and everyone to watch this MASTERPIECE!!!