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[BD Review] ‘Bad Milo!’ Is As Relatable As It Is Ridiculous
Bad Milo! is absolutely regoddamndiculous. And I mean that in the nicest of ways.
Ken (Ken Marino) is an average married man struggling with everyday stresses that he continuously bottles up. That is until the physical manifestation of his dark side actually emerges from his rectum. Yes, Bad Milo revolves around a demon that lives inside Ken’s bum and comes out to kill those who have caused him undue stress. Initially thought to be a polyp, Milo finally takes form in a cross between the baby from the TV show Dinosaurs and Belial from Basketcase. With the guidance of a hypnotherapist (Peter Stormare), Ken begins to make peace with his demons…er…demon.
For as absolutely absurd as the plot is, Bad Milo! works if audiences can get past the silliness. Most adults can relate to at least one or two of Ken’s life stresses: His mom (Mary Kay Place) is overbearing, his dad (Stephen Root) is a deadbeat, his wife (Gillian Jacobs) is loving, yet demanding, and his boss is a big jerk. This makes the idea of someone bottling their frustrations to a breaking point the strongest part of the narrative. Combine that with Ken Marino’s convincing portrayal of Ken and his believable interaction with the Milo puppet, and you have a well rounded film.
The Milo puppet itself is pretty impressive, too. It has a voice reminiscent of Gizmo from Gremlins, and even when in attack mode, it’s just…cute. The production value of the movie is good, too. The filming, editing, and sound are all fantastic. Posters on the IMDB messages boards have called it “Troma with a budget” – a very accurate description. It’s a fact that if the film had a less respectable cast and less savory craftsmanship, I more than likely wouldn’t have been as amused by it as I was.
Denying stress in our lives is something that a lot of people do. They keep on trucking and some, sooner or later, snap. Taking that simple concept and throwing it into a horror film normally doesn’t produce humorous material. In the case of Bad Milo!,however, the concept results in a fun, entertaining horror comedy.
Bad Milo! is available On Demand/iTunes and in theaters Friday, October 4, 2013.
After scaring up a strong theatrical run, Oddity director Damian McCarthy’s Hokum heads home to Digital this week.
Settle in for a spooky supernatural chiller as Hokum arrives on all Digital platforms to rent or own beginning June 2, followed by a Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD Combo and DVD release on August 11, 2026.
Adam Scott (“Severance”) stars in Hokum as reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman. When he retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, the staff’s tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take hold of his mind. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance draw Ohm into a nightmarish confrontation with the darkest corners of his past.
Peter Coonan (“The Alienist: Angel of Darkness”), David Wilmot (“Station Eleven”), Florence Ordesh (“Departure”), Michael Patric (“Frontier”), Will O’Connell (“Game of Thrones”), Brendan Conroy (“Bodkin”), and Austin Amelio (“The Walking Dead”) also star.
Get a peek at the upcoming physical media release below, including a few special features.
Spooky Pictures’ Roy Lee (Weapons) & Steven Schneider (Insidious) produce alongside Image Nation’s Derek Dauchy (Late Night with the Devil), Tailored Film’s Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, & Mairtín de Barra, and Cweature Features’ Ken Kao & Josh Rosenbaum.
I wrote in my review for Bloody Disgusting, “A quaint Irish hotel with a deeply haunted history awaits an American writer in McCarthy’s third outing, continuing his streak for folkloric tales of supernatural karma and spine-tingling terror with a dark sense of humor.”
What’s next from Damian McCarthy? He’s currently writing a haunted house movie, but recent comments suggest he may be moving into other genres beyond that upcoming project.
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