thomandybish-15114

Looking at the thumbnail and description on Tubi, I didn't expect this to be a gore fest. I think the fact that this movie isn't that is why so many reviewers gave it low scores. Unfamiliar with most of the actors, although I believe they all turned in good performances. A Scottish manor home was the primary setting, so there's atmosphere to burn. At first, I thought this movie was treading territory similar to George C. Scott's THE CHANGELING--both movies have protagonists who are single, have traumatic pasts, and are trying to turn a page in their lives by acquiring large, long-empty houses, but the similarities stop there. While Scott's character tries to get justice for a child ghost, the main character in this movie slowly finds that the child ghost haunting him (the source of the invisible "small hand" of the title) has an entirely different motivation. The characters in this movie are all adults, having adult motivations and adult reactions, something refreshing in an era when screenwriters seem to have forgotten how to write adult characters who think and talk believably like grownups. The movie takes it's time to get to the Big Reveal, one that I wasn't completely prepared for. Woody Norman gives a performance as the child ghost that is both adorable and sinister. Not perfect, but a satisfying way to pass 90 minutes.

Much of my appreciation of this film comes from a childhood weaned on police procedural TV shows. DELIRIUM has that element down pat. Equal parts slasher and detective drama, this flick is almost like the cinematic equivalent of slipping into your jammies, kicking back in your favorite chair, and enjoying a comfortable evening watching your favorite detective show, albeit with breasts and gore. This mashup is probably what makes so many people treat it like a cult classic, although if you remove the exploitation elements it comes off as a feature length episode of POLICE STORY. The comparison is apropos in more ways than one; it's generally tightly crafted and doesn't bore viewers with montage filler designed to pad run time (at less than 90 minutes in length, it doesn't wear out its welcome). It also shoehorns in themes of vigilante justice and Vietnam PTSD, something that was just coming into the American collective consciousness. The filmmakers make great use of the St. Louis locales, although the Vietnam flashbacks of some of the characters don't look particularly authentic (does Vietnam have an autumn?). Still, for the low budget, things do look pretty great. Most of the actors were apparently local talent: for most, this was the zenith of their acting careers. It's speculation, but I can't help wondering if the nudity and gore effects were shoehorned in to capitalize on the slasher craze that was beginning to percolate with audiences (HALLOWEEN had just been released the year before). DELIRIUM is well scripted, tightly paced, with generally good acting and better than average action sequences and gore special effects. Not perfect, but not a bad way to pass the time.

Okay, this isn't a comedy classic. It is, however, an enjoyable film that, surprisingly, trades in sex jokes, gratuitous nudity, and crudity for situational humor and some surprisingly compassionate lessons about serving others and making their lives better. Don't let that scare you off: it isn't the sanctimonious slog it sounds like. Never heard of Mitchel Musso, but he apparently appeared in some Disney kids' series, including HANNAH MONTANA. This movie doesn't fall too far from a modern Disney channel ethos. His Tucker is a likeable schlub who listens to the Moody Blues (!) and dreams of becoming an animator/theme park creator. To finance his way to a California animation school, he takes a job at a local theme park as a costumed mascot. As he learns the ropes of the park's hierarchy and makes friends with the three other mascots (or "characterz"), he falls in love with Samantha, another mascot who also works in a local nursing home. With the help of his friends, he makes a special theme park experience for the residents of the home.

Director/writer Jon Binkowski capably offers up a funny, sometimes outlandish comedy while still giving us realistic characters. It would have been easy to portray Tucker as a lecherous loser, Samantha as a hot-to-trot bimbo, and the other characters as one-dimensional cliches while offering up one toilet joke set up after another, but Binkowski shows us a funny, compassionate young man who goes out of his way to create a great experience for a group of people his girlfriend (and also he) cares for. A modern comedy that offers up a wholesome life lesson--what a concept!