Considering all of horror’s wonderfully wicked subgenres, I think it’s safe to say the horror/comedy is my least favorite. Now, I am by no means saying that chuckles have no place in the genre. Intentional or not, a strategically placed nudge or two can balance a fright film out nicely. But in an age of excess, it’s becoming too difficult to find one that knows its limits and contains more chills than laughs. I simply don’t see the point in ridiculous, random, over the top nonsense in a genre originally based on fear. Case in point: MY BLOODY WEDDING, now on DVD from R-Squared Films.

Doug is a naive little momma’s boy about to get married to his beautiful, caring, understanding fiancée, Callista. Everything seems fine and dandy until she becomes possessed, resulting in an appetite for human flesh. She begins chowing down on his family and friends, bringing new meaning to the vow “‘til death do us part.”

In a nutshell, that’s the plot. It could be a lot worse, and in the right hands, could even be quite enjoyable. However, the film’s tone of humor completely ruined it for me. For example there’s this random 4-foot tall robot that follows the main character around all the time and is never explained. Why’s it there? I don’t know! In addition, there’s a fat white dude in a luchador outfit that lives next door and eventually joins the posse! Again, never explained. It’s not like robots and Mexican wrestlers are common horror tropes that are being spoofed, so it’s hard to see how this warrants humor.

Sometimes, characters will randomly stop what they’re doing, look at the camera and do an impromptu infomercial for a made up product. It’s hilarious! And there’s this one scene where a bunch of characters randomly break into an Irish jig, for no reason at all! It’s f**king genius!! (Sarcasm, anyone?)

On the technical side, considering it was shot in 11 days with a $15,000 budget, visually MY BLOODY WEDDING is not half bad. Aside from a few nonsensical camera angles and just a pinch of the expected amateur acting, the film is more or less well shot and decently performed. Patrick Babbit, who portrays Doug, is particularly impressive. With this being only the second feature under his belt, I’d like to see how his skills measure up in a more serious role, or in a somewhat higher profile comedy.

I’m pleased to admit the practical FX aren’t half bad either. Missing chunks of flesh, arterial spray and a few BUFFY-esque forehead latex pieces are all you’re going to get, but at least the “quality before quantity” rule was applied at some point during production.

MY BLOODY WEDDING clearly isn’t for everyone, and if you’re a grumpy, stick-in-the-mud purist like this writer, I’d stay as far away from this one as possible. But if you find yourself laughing at nonsense daily, give this one a go. Maybe you’ll get it.

The DVD does contains hours of special features backing up the widescreen presentation. You get: audio commentary by director Morgan D. Mead and writer Morgan C. Mead (no relation…seriously); audio commentary from a random drunk guy (yes, the randomness leaks into the features as well); a 20-minute making-of featurette; a blooper real; two trailers for Mead’s previous directorial efforts; a one minute short of a little boy rapping; and a three-minute mock infomercial for a karate school. The two Meads basically compliment each other on how hilarious they are during the entirety of their track, while the drunk guy manages to be funnier on the fly than the scripted film he’s heckling. The behind-the-scenes footage reveals the impressively quick start-to-finish process the film went through and reminds the viewer that just about anyone with the will can make a movie. The two shorts are quick, clever and painless.

What would be nice to see is an American horror/comedy that is less an overt, exaggerated spoof, with less concentration on recreating the low production values of “bad” horror and less randomness just for randomness’ sake, and more subtle, careful referencing and satire. Is that too much to ask for? Yeah, you’re right. It probably is.

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