CarousHELL

I've watched this movie a year ago. Some people should say this movie is second to none, or should I say second to RUN? When I watched that stupid Unicorn come "alive", my excitement flew south for the winter. This was an extremely cheesy movie. I'd rather watch Dora the Explorer, and I'm a boy! The movie makes no sense, and the acting was just downright awful. I'd give this movie ZERO stars if I could, but alas, I cannot. Seriously, unless you like really cheesy movies, this one is not for you.

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.

I actually watched CarousHELL 3 first because I am a fan of a couple of members of the cast. I wasn't sure what to think of it, so I decided to watch the first movie to get a better understanding of things.

Tired of being abused and mistreated by children, a carousel unicorn awakens and leaves the ride to look for the child who took him to his limit.

CarousHELL is a unique mix of horror and humor. It delivers the goods in both departments, as well as having some cool gory scenes.

Duke the unicorn crashes a house party and goes on a killing spree to get to the child that set him off.

I wasn't sure if I would like this, but it was pretty good.

The cast is relatively unknown. Haley J. Madison is the only cast member that I'm familiar with.

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

Upset about being a child's carousel unicorn, a special figure breaks out of his bondage and sets out to seek revenge on the kid who angered him where he finally tracks him down at a party with his sister and her friends forcing him to take them out to get to him and relying on a special hunter to stop the rampage.

On the whole, this was a pretty solid cheesy genre effort. Among the better elements here is the fact that this one just goes all-in on the ludicrous nature and premise that's being utilized here. From the unicorns' remarks about the situation and his lifestyle working at the carnival directly to the camera, this one gives off a goofy atmosphere quite early on and tends to set an example of what's in store. That this carries on into the rest of of the film where the ludicrous nature of a talking carousel creation wandering around talking to everyone it comes across while not realizing what's going on until it's too late or the utterly wacky storyline about the mascot from the amusement park coming after him to stop the rampage makes for all sorts of cheesy, silly fun here. That the attacks are carried over with an actual stiff, practical horse-prop manipulated and filmed to appear as though it were a real being just adds to the goofiness present here. As well, there's plenty to like here about the antics of the killer creature out in the wilds which has a lot of outrageous gore gags and stalking to it. The idea of taking out the workers around the carnival and the couple on their date leading up to the assault on the party are great fun full of goofy puns and outrageous situations involving the creature performing the over-the-top actions. Once at the party, the idea of it going through the bestiality role with the admirer and turning that into a fun killing spree stalking through the various guests in fine form, as the confrontations in the living room, out in the kitchen and involving the mascot hunting it down at the end tend to go hand-in-hand with the tone and atmosphere created here. With the great gore involved in the multitude of kills, plenty of over-the-top comedy, and the right air of seriousness involved, these hold the film up quite well over its minor aspects. There isn't a whole lot to dislike with this one. Among the few issues is a rightly-acknowledged part in the first half where the unicorns' lines become repetitive and not that funny. Being variations on the same thing for every kill it commits, it would've been tiresome and annoying to keep going with the same setup and punchline which is then rightly called out before it gets to that point with a clever twist about doing so which saves it somewhat even though it still comes off irritating beforehand. As well, there's the ludicrous nature of what's going on, from a talking carnival carousel unicorn that doesn't have much in the way of explanation for how it's still alive or how it finds the kid at the party when it just seems to be going through the community taking them out as it comes across them that might be troublesome which goes hand-in-hand with the low-budget nature and outrageousness of the premise for some to handle. These are the only real issues here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and a scene of consensual bestiality.