Midlands Review of Spooky B*stard

midlandsmovies • November 1, 2022

Spooky Bastard

 

Directed by Michael and Rafe Bird

 

2022

 

Bird Bros Productions


A horror comedy called Spooky B*stard has been released and directors Michael and Rafe Bird hope to take aim at the clichés and tropes of the fright genre in this new Nottingham-filmed short.


We open with a man (Rafe Bird as Jaime) waking in the middle of the night and rushing to his bedroom window to investigate an unfamiliar noise.


Heading downstairs he leaves his wife (Vicki Reckless as Helena) in her slumber and enters the couple’s garden, only to be locked out with a hooded figure creeping up behind him.


From the outset, the film plays with cinematic techniques and tropes prevalent in the horror genre. Not only does the aspect ratio switch throughout, but the comedy stems from the couple actually discussing what’s happening too. They give a running commentary in a semi-fourth wall breaking idea that works well.


With an acknowledgement that the couple have already faced Western and Science Fiction-themed evenings as well, Jamie quips that they again “just have to let this play out”.


The short continues with appropriate killer point-of-view shots, a cursed idol from a native American burial ground (“in Nottingham?” one character exclaims which made me laugh) and a jump-scare involving a cute bunny.


The horror genre is ripe for parody (see Scary Movie and Shaun of the Dead) and the film has echoes of those as well as finding its own angles on the same subject with nods to Scream, IT, Poltergeist and the killers from the Halloween & Friday 13th franchises.


The scary score and horror genre elements are amusingly contrasted with the mundane domestic issues the couple undertake. Jamie slowly wanders around in his dressing gown and is more worried about the cost of BT fixing his cut telephone line. The two get annoyed rather than scared and a funny sequence involves the wife making a tea whilst the intruder attempts to attack Jamie in the background.


The brothers are clearly fans of horror and poke fun in all the right places without ever undermining the techniques filmmakers (overly) use in those types of films. Obligatory mirror shots and the assailant coming back for one last kill all play into their wry satire on the genre.


Comedy of course is subjective, so part of the audience’s enjoyment comes from knowing the clichés the brothers are poking fun at. A joke about diegetic music had me chuckling but I couldn’t help but think the overbearing score and jump-sounds – albeit part of the parody – could have been lower in the mix and that the opening was played straight before the pastiche began.


As the film winds up we get a switch of genres as Helena retrieves a Wild West pistol from the bedside drawer, which results in a few shots reminiscent of a spaghetti western. And the comedy continues to place their average life against the nasty events. Helena has frustration about being up late even when she has an interview in the morning, and a joke is delivered about the massive suburban houses in movies these attacks often take place in.


Spooky Bastard finishes as a comical success with lots of witty imitations of many aspects of Hollywood horror.  A final small suggestion would be a name change of the title to make the film more accessible – although when it’s said by a character in the film it makes sense, and has a hint of the Midlands regional dialect which I very much enjoyed.


A scary spoof with lots to recommend, this excellent suburban sendup subverts all the recognisable chestnuts with an added local vibe plus tons of tremendous horror humour.


★★★★

4/5

Michael Sales

By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
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