Mega Monster Movie - DVD

Movie: Trapped in a dreary job at a video store and abandoned by his girlfriend, things aren't going well for Stan Helsing (Steve Howey) at the moment. Still, he's looking forward to celebrating Halloween with his ex Nadine (Diora Baird), his best buddy Teddy (Kenan Thompson) and his new girlfriend, go-go girl Mia (Desi Lydic). Too bad he gets an assignment to drop off a video to his boss's mom that night, of all nights. What was supposed to be a short trip to the Halloween party ends up in a trip to a cursed city, where several monsters and killers known from movies are up to mischief. And loser Stan, of all people, is supposed to finally rid the town of its curse as a direct descendant of the legendary Van Helsing.

Mega Monster Movie is the directorial debut of Bo Zenga, who made a name for himself as the producer of Scary Movie, among other films. In the tradition of contemporary spoof comedies like Beilight or Superhero Movie, countless horror films are put through the mill here. In addition to the very obvious offerings like the Nightmare, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Chucky movies, Zenga also satirizes some slightly less popular genre representatives, such as Jeepers Creepers. When the unintentionally funny Van Helsing gets his money's worth here or cult monsters like Freddy Kruger show themselves from a slightly different side, then this has enough potential for a laugh or two.

But overall, this comedy again focuses too much on fecal humor and rather weak sex jokes and exploits the potential of a horror film persiflage far too rarely. Neither the convincingly dorky acting Steve Howey, the skimpy outfits of the main actresses, nor the brief appearance of Naked Gun star Leslie Nielsen, who died in 2010, can change anything about that. To be sure, Mega Monster Movie's well-crafted ideas and good laughs make it leaps and bounds better than many a spoof comedy like My Wife, the Spartans and Me. And who can laugh at such films - and the success of these comedies suggests that this is the case with a wide audience - will have a lot of fun here.

Vom the level of spoof comedies, as they have made the sugar brothers in the 80s (The naked gun, The incredible journey in a crazy plane) is this who then but miles away. That the actors had fun with the unrestrained silliness is clearly noticeable in some scenes of the film. But a really good comedy just looks different. Nevertheless: For fans of cruder humor and spoof comedies like Beilight, Mega Monster Movie offers enough fun potential for an enjoyable DVD evening. If, on the other hand, you like it a little more sophisticated, this film could quickly turn into an absolute horror.

Picture + Sound: The technical realization is perfectly fine. The image is clean, the overall sharpness is at a good level and even in the darker moments, the coherent color scheme comes across well. The sound in the German mix, but especially in the dts track, is noticeably more powerful, but also a bit more front-heavy, than in the original English version. The latter, however, is clearly preferable to the dubbed version due to some quite successful puns.

Extras: Let's get started here with a (non-subtitled) audio commentary by director Bo Zenga and his actors Kenan Thompson and Desi Lydic. The three of them have a good-humoured chat about the film, which they portray as much better and funnier than it actually is. This may be due to the enjoyable filming, which the actors in particular reminisce about while watching some of the scenes. Really substantial information gets the inclined viewer here, however, hardly offered.

In addition, there is a short making of (about 10 min.), as well as just under 14 minutes of cut and extended scenes, which have but hardly really worth seeing moments to offer. The bonus package is rounded off by some trailers.

Conclusion: Mega Monster Movie is qualitatively about between the Scary Movie films and completely subterranean spoofs such as My Wife, the Spartans and Me. Some well-done gags and playing with previously barely satirized genre stalwarts like Jeepers Creepers alternate with flat sex jokes. Unfortunately, the film as a whole falls short of its potential, to which especially the rather embarrassing performance of Leslie Nielsen testifies. However, the successful moments just about save the comedy and make it well worth watching for fans of American spoof comedies of recent years!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp