My Bloody Wedding Review
by Chateau Grrr
Horredies. Horror + Comedy = the delightful Horredy
We’ve seen a lot of them in the big budget arena with Army of Darkness, the Scream series, Shaun of the Dead, and many many others. But we don’t get too many low- to no-budget horredies. Sure, they’re out there, but in the drive to make a horror movie, perhaps the lure of making the next greatest horror flick is just too strong to resist and the horredy gets lost in a sea of serious horror flicks.
Here we have a terrific entry in the genre. My Bloody Wedding is the wacky tale of affianced Callista and Doug. All is well with the young couple until a girls’ night out when Callista and her girlfriends are possessed by demonic jewelry. The virginal Doug begins to suspect something is amiss when his mother and friends begin to turn up dead and gnawed upon. With the help of his good friend Steve, his pet robot, and a masked Mexican wrestler, Doug manages to save his bride-to-be and get laid, but not before things get bloody. Really bloody.
There’s a lot of sharp, sly humor happening in this horredy. Exemplifying this were Callista and her fellow she-demons possessed of glowing green jewelry given to her by her mother. This plot device is intentionally and delightfully trite and no time is spent trying to rationalize it, explain it, or make it anything more than a quirky contrivance as if to say, “Yeah, yeah. You get it… they get possessed. Let’s move on to the good stuff!”
Whether you watch the film or just read the credits, you might find yourself wondering what a robot’s doing in a matrimonial horror flick? Exactly! The robot goes unexplained and unacknowledged throughout most of the film and I was hoping that the end credits would roll and I’d still be asking “So what the hell did that robot have to do with anything?”
Though I would have found it much funnier if it had remained an odd non sequitur, the robot does become an actual character about halfway through My Bloody Wedding, interacting and participating in the plot. Doug’s gang also picks up the help of a mild-mannered Luchador and an unhinged groundskeeper. I didn’t enjoy these two characters as much as they came off as inconsequential; thrown in for more random zaniness, but not strong enough to pull it off.
What was missing, albeit only slightly, was pitch-perfect timing. Combined with acting that would have been ideal for a less madcap comedy but is just a wee bit too flat here, there’s a noticeable shortcoming in the humor. For a film that clearly wants to be believably zany in a vein similar to Savage Steve Holland’s Better Off Dead, it’s just shy of its mark.
My Bloody Wedding runs long at 88 minutes. Near the 75 minute mark, I caught myself checking the remaining time and losing focus. This might have been emphasized by the characters on-screen who had grown tired of their own escapades and were passing time while other characters finished up the victory scene.
What I feel the film really accomplishes is a showcase of Mead’s ability to deftly direct his crew to achieve beautiful shots, great lighting, and superb audio. Despite being too long for itself, be sure to keep the DVD playing for the outtakes and behind-the-scenes shown during the closing credits. It’s clear that the crew had a blast making it and a lot of love and care were put into its creation.
All trifling faults considered, this film is still superb and worth checking out. It could easily become your new favorite cult horredy!
Thus concludes the “official review” portion of My Bloody Wedding, so here’s an extra bit of trivia for those who are intrigued by such things…..
Click here to Read the rest of the review, courtesy of Chateau Grrr
