Funland (1987)

Memorable, crazy movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The mob takes over a theme park where the owner mysteriously dies, and they go about making changes. One being that the resident clown mascot of many years is fired, but Bruce Burger who's pretty much lost in his character takes it hard by seeking vengeance. It's hard not raise an eye-brow on this low-budget production. The poster artwork is very misleading, as you could say it paints something rather horrifying, even dark. But that's not entirely the case with this very tongue-in-cheek, black comedy. Yeah it's a comedy, but no horror/thriller. Sure there are few bizarre (wax figure, dead people and hand puppet coming to life) and edgy moments, but it's offset by certain buoyant and colourful exchanges like out of some goofy 1980s comedy. With this all in mind, I still didn't mind the oddball nature of "Funland". I thought worked in parts. The dry script and animated acting was spot on, even if it came across amateurish, but the creativeness and unpredictability shines through. You're never too sure how things would pan out, but it does seem to get crazier and warped the further along it goes. Even if the presentation is limited in styling, the director does a really competent job in getting everything to come together. David Lander's performance as the unhinged clown was nothing short then incredible, especially watching his descent into madness and mental breakdown.

Understandably some people view this movie as a waste of time, but one man's trash is another's treasure. Funland was the creation of a couple of Saturday night live writers - and it shows. Some sections appear to be nothing more than skits filling out the storyline . . . and while some jokes work, some don't, but it's often in the eye of the beholder. Promo posters make it look like a psychotic clown on the rampage but Bruce Burger is the unwitting protagonist trying to save the one thing he believes in. When a mob family take over an amusement park and fire the mentally unstable resident clown he retreats to the closed down wax museum. Here the film takes a bizarre turn as he finds companionship with Marilyn Monroe, Bogart and his hand puppet Peter Pepperoni. They all come 'alive' sometimes preaching tolerance and other times revenge. He's also visited by the murdered ex-owner who wants him to stop the mob destroying the park they both love. Watch out for Bruce's hilarious descent into madness (complete with scantily clad angel of death) when the cafeteria men start rapping and a poster advertising the new roller-coaster, 'Man's Biggest Thrill Is Coming'.

I'm sure many people sit down to watch this film expecting horror. Although the chintzy tagline does suggest an even chintzier slasher flick, this movie rises above that genre. It's not a slasher flick at all, which is just fine. If anything, I would definitely classify this film in the Dark Comedy genre. It's almost an amusing and mocking look at insanity. The story is an interesting one, and a very creative one at that. Watch it if you enjoy a good chuckle, but not if you're looking for some cheap gore or contrived "pop-out" scare tactics. Prepare yourself for lots and lots of ethnic stereotyping, but done in such a way that it mocks those who actually believe in such stereotypes. The thing that makes this film a dark comedy is not only its ability to poke fun at bigots by catering to their ridiculous beliefs, but also at the utter random (and often crude) humor. If you enjoy films like Better Off Dead and I Love You to Death, it's almost guaranteed that you'll like this movie.

Don't waste your time. This movie is so stupid I wonder why it got 2 votes of 10. It was probably the creators, trust me on this. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!