Geoff-21

The comments already posted for this movie suggest enough to describe how bad this movie is. Getting through it was truly a test of endurance. If you must see it for whatever reason, I suggest turning it into a drinking game. One is called "Fact is". One character says it almost every time he speaks; by the 18th time I was wishing for his death. Another game is "I really wish we could go home right now," the favorite line (no less than 5 mentions) of the blonde girl in the red bikini. Now that you're good and drunk, take time to take in the dime store costumes, props, and effects: pirate costumes from the party store, tiki torches from the hardware store, cut off limbs shown by burying the severed part in the sand and then sprinkling red syrup on the "stump", etc. Just don't expect coherent acting, character development, or plot. I want my hour twenty back.

I had to read Twelfth Night in college, so I rented this from the university library and watched it while reading along with the actual play on my lap. It is dead on accurate (no cuts) and the play is very funny indeed. This is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I still remember this production of it 10 years later. Kenneth Branagh made Shakespeare look fun, and I actually laughed out loud at some points. I didn't really like Shakespeare before reading/seeing this production. (Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar are the wrong plays to subject to high school kids.) Since watching Twelfth Night, I have a new appreciation for the Bard and his other works. Kenneth Branagh did an excellent job with this one.

I don't know what to think about this movie. I mean, there is an absolutely harrowing scene where a girl is tied to a tree and then stabbed with a knife the killer ties to the end of the girl's own trombone; then maybe a few minutes later a ridiculous car chase takes place that ends with the dumb, comic relief cop of the movie jumping Dukes of Hazzard style over other cars to land in a swamp. The comic relief stuff did not work in this movie at all. Which was a shame, because the killer's attacks were scary (Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island is one of the victims, and she played it pretty well!). The movie switched from serious horror and police procedure to loopy, small town goofiness. It didn't make much sense. Andrew Prine as the deputy sheriff was good, though. Ben Johnson reminded me of Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit too much. All in all, I'd say check it out for some decent horror elements, just ignore some of the more irritating stuff. 5/10