Funny Man (1994)

Directed by Simon Sprackling [Other horror films: N/A]

For the right audience, Funny Man could be quite the enjoyable experience. It has a good sense of humor, and is overall quite a unique experience. Personally, the movie is too goofy for me – it’s just too over-the-top for me to get into. If you’re into the type of humor Funny Man focuses on, though, it’s perhaps worth seeing.

The story is marginally interesting, and there are a few standout scenes. After a man wins an ancestral home in a card game, he checks the place out, and shortly thereafter, he and his family are stalked by a jester-demon. It’s somewhat similar to Leprechaun, as this jester (called Funny Man, hence the title) makes a lot of one-liners, but it’s also fundamentally different, as this movie is rather silly, and oftentimes, the Funny Man will look directly into the camera, addressing the audience.

It’s that breaking of the fourth wall that’s partially my issue. If it were only that, it might be okay, but some of the scenes here are just way too silly for me, such as the Funny Man having a gun showdown with one character (the character in question is somehow just using her hand as a gun – no idea how an injection can do that), or doing a strip show for another victim, or having a guy try on a bunch of wigs that each play a different style of music. Oh, and a guy becomes a star or something. It’s just too goofy, and you add that to the breaking of the fourth wall, and it’s really not my thing.

As I said, though, the film isn’t without a few decent scenes and ideas. A fortune-teller character finds a spiral staircase that winds down and down (and sideways, so I don’t know if that’s the safest staircase I’ve ever seen) which leads down to a small village called Sod’s Law (population: 1). I guess this is where the Funny Man usually lives when he’s not mucking about the castle above, and it’s sort of a cool visual.

There’s a kill in which the Funny Man is doing a bit of a ballet dance beforehand – it’s silly, like most of the other death scenes, but it was shorter and more to the point, and while the kill itself (electrocution) wasn’t stellar, the set-up was more fun. Lastly, the final shot is somewhat haunting, so that’s another plus.

Only two performances really stood out, one being the titular Funny Man, played by Tim James. I didn’t care for his humor most of the time, but he did well with the character he was supposed to play. The film also has Christopher Lee (The Gorgon, Horror Express, Nothing But the Night), and he’s occasionally fun. Oh, there’s also a character named Themla, played by Rhona Cameron, who dresses up in a skirt, an orange turtleneck, glasses, and has a cropped haircut. She doesn’t do that much, like many of the other characters, but that distinctive look (almost, just almost, like they were mimicking Scooby-Doo’s Velma) was fun.

For the right audience, this British film might be a lot of fun. It also might help if said audience was either high or drunk, as I imagine if I had seen it in that frame of mind either time I’ve watched this, it would have made for a better experience. The movie isn’t without promise, but personally, it’s just too goofy for me, and that’s what it really comes down to.

5/10