It’s reasonable to say that Scream (1996) was the inspiration, albeit an indirect one, for all the spoof movies we saw back in the 2000s. Were it not for Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s meta-horror slasher, there would be no Scary Movie (2000). And if there had been no Scary Movie, that parade of pointed parodies would have possibly never happened. Having said that, though, Broken Lizard’s Club Dread (2004) is not a bona fide send-up of horror or slashers.
Self-awareness, at least in regard to horror movies, is mostly absent from this killer comedy. It seems odd not lean into what was trending, but in retrospect, Broken Lizard made the right choice.
In a 2004 interview with Fangoria, Club Dread director and star Jay Chandrasekhar emphasized that his movie “is not a parody.” Chandrasekhar then added how the story wasn’t “self-referential like [that of] Scream,” and how the characters “don’t mention the horror film genre.” So, right away, Club Dread was standing out from the crowd, and it was even a smidge ahead of the whole spoof explosion. Arguably, that influx of lampooning and low-hanging humor doesn’t begin with Not Another Teen Movie (2001) or the Scary Movie series; the second of which already had two sequels in the bag before Club Dread’s release. No, the surge in question largely happened towards the end of the aughts. These titles include the likes of Epic Movie (2007), Superhero Movie (2008), and Vampires Suck (2010). It wasn’t really until the following decade, and after passé efforts like The Starving Games (2013) delivered the final nail in the coffin, that the craze died.
That saturation of theatrical satires was generally more successful than not, whereas Club Dread didn’t do as well. This came as a bit of a surprise since Broken Lizard’s previous comedy, Super Troopers (2001), was a sleeper hit. Yet, the fans have to remember something important: by 2004, the slasher revival was essentially dunzo, and it was soon to be superseded by new horror trends (splatter flicks, remakes, J-Horror). In all honesty, Scary Movie had all but killed the slasher subgenre by deriding it to death. So much so that the subsequent sequels had to find new targets (and not just from horror).
So, if Scary Movie had the horror satire covered back then, and most people mistook Club Dread as another parody of the genre, then it’s no wonder this comedy underperformed. Even the number-one new movie from that opening weekend, an Ashley Judd thriller called Twisted, was a big flop. As a reminder, The Passion of the Christ was still making a killing in theaters. However, it’s not as if the critics were all singing the praises of Club Dread. The New York Times review did more harm than good with its assessment; Dave Kehr called it “a disappointingly routine horror movie spoof that follows the well-worn path of the Scream and Scary Movie franchises.” The worst part of reviews like this is the misunderstanding of the creators’ intent—one that Broken Lizard tried, but failed, to prevent. Does the movie ignore slasher tropes altogether? Of course not, although it’s done in a way that doesn’t require winking at the audience or finger-pointing.
There were plenty of opportunities to mock the horror genre in Club Dread. Broken Lizard said as much when explaining why they ultimately went in a different direction. “The more you [poke fun at the conventions], the less invested an audience is in the fate of the characters,” Paul Soter told Fangoria. He also added how “it was important to go straight, because [they] were very aware of the kind of film [they] didn’t want to make.” By that, he meant another parody riddled with self-awareness and pop culture references, both of which can take viewers out of the moment.
As much as Broken Lizard wanted to make a comedy within the horror genre, they weren’t willing to sacrifice thrills. Interestingly, Chandrasekhar, Soter, and the other Broken Lizard members (Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, and Erik Stolhanske) singled out The Return of the Living Dead (1985) as something to strive for in their own work. They loved the idea of a horror movie where the situation is serious, but the characters are funny, and your amusement is based on their reactions.
Now, it would be a mistake to say Club Dread is innovative. That is not the case here, seeing as how the basic plot sounds unremarkable on paper. An island resort’s staff and guests are all picked off by the mysterious assailant whose identity is withheld until the end of the movie. Even with all the adult characters, the tropical backdrop and the humored execution, storytelling is not one of Club Dread’s strong points. In that sense, Broken Lizard are spoofing slashers simply by taking bits and pieces of past movies, and distilling them into a no-frills premise. It’s only once the comedy troupe and their collaborators add their personal touches to the material does this movie feel a lot more effective, not to mention memorable.
On top of all the distinct and colorful personalities in the movie, there was a surprising amount of love and care for the kills. On this front, Broken Lizard leaned hard into the practical effects and makeup. And one of the more impressive instances has to be the severed-head-on-a-turntable piece, which involved one of the actors crawling up into an empty cabinet and sticking his head through. This stroke of genius came after they opted out of using a fake noggin, too. As for the rest of the movie, it’s about as bloody as an American slasher could be in the early 2000s. The carnage is nothing compared to what was to come in the genre, but it’s serviceable. By the way, anyone who thinks the unrated version yields more of the red stuff will probably end up disappointed; you’re better off sticking to the theatrical cut. The movie was already a bit overlong before they went and restored an abandoned subplot.
While pulling something of a genre switch wasn’t the absolute kiss of death, adding horror to the mix obviously didn’t pan out for Broken Lizard. They returned to more straightforward comedy after this experiment. Nevertheless, Club Dread has enough quotable lines and moments to remember it by, and Bill Paxton as a send-up of Jimmy Buffet is worth the price of admission alone. And for those who can’t quite leave the resort yet, there is always the cast and crew commentary tracks on the DVD (yeah, still no Blu-ray). Those are just as enjoyable as the movie itself, perhaps even more so.
