Slasher parodies vary from good to bad, like Bloody Bloody Bible Camp (2012) and A Haunted House (2013), respectively. This one lets you ask, Fat Chance? Well.
The movie opens up with a killing that seems to be compulsory followed by an over-the-top full-frontal nude shower scene. Afterward, we have a non-footage film about the behind-the-scenes of a television reality show titled ‘In For A Pound.’ The premise is that the person who loses the most weight while the show is being filmed will win 1 million dollars.
Highlighted in the arrays is a bunch of Redneck bullies, one of whom is skillfully acted by one of the co-directors Daniel Emery Taylor which makes sense, given that was filmed in Marion, ‘Bama. Then we have an extremely foul-mouthed stereotype of a gay, a New Jersey jumpsuit-wearing paisan(at least from Soprano’s, I’m pretty sure), an old white rapper turned goth self-branded as Darc Ness, a Latino who can’t speak English, and a shy guy who looks nice and writes poetry called Jeremy (Nick Huntsman in his first movie role, a wonderful horror actor name if I have ever heard). He has a crush on the banal nurse of the show, Stefani (Megan Hunt) who may or may not have started being fond of him.
Apart from this gaggle-plus-three of bear (yes, you heard me) is the bloodthirsty exercise instructor (G. Larry Butler, A prominent figure in luga dubbing), equally sadistic “babysitter” to make sure the contestants toe the line. And the endlessly and equally sadistic food eater hating, Arthur (David Coffin), the equally sadistic power-seeking host, Warren (co-director Jim O’Rear, in the first role I have ever seen anyone vaping), which will be looked into later a downright new age Dr.
Phil-modelled doctor, James (Carl Donovan), and one of the more sane people on the entire crew, the producer Natalie (Ava Cronin) who is equally unhinged, but does her best to put on a professional mask of sorts.
The masked killer, on the other hand, might be the most humorous part of the entire film. She is rather on the short side, and is dressed in a food apron with a chicken bucket on her head as a mask. The bucket has two tiny holes for her eyes.
Using what I refer to as the James Balsamo School of Cameo (which is intended as a compliment), the top liners of the film who are “names,” are also in it, but for a very short time. In this case, it’s ex-porn star Bree Olson of Human Centipede III (2015), the above-mentioned Snow, Scott Tepperman of the Ghost Hunters International cable show (which I’ve never watched), and the wondrous Dick Warlock, who is an actor from the classics. But that’s not fair in this case because most of the cast is well-known and has a huge screen credit list (most of them being One Day Shooting appearances, as well).
It is not entirely surprising that the film received mixed reviews. For instance, a comment that is found on the back cover of the DVD from Independent Film Quote says It’s The Biggest Loser meets Friday The 13th. The description manages to cover almost every aspect, however, trying to be funny by reaching for the absurd always misses the mark (such as putting chocolate bars under a fat man’s mammary glands or shit-in-the-face, for example). The non-digital blood and gore is truly wonderful though. Great amounts of mayhem, blood, and guts, and using different weapons is exceedingly well-mannered.
Equally astounding is that I did not puzzle out who was the killer prior, which is not common. I had previously made a wrong but rather confident guess. Excellent work on that. Alongside that, there is a quite peculiar and, I would say, partially improvised fight scene between Snow and her foes. One of the things that drove me mad was that the jokes seemed to weigh a tremendous amount more than the actual reason for our presence there. Take the machete that the killer uses, for example, the blade is far too thick and ‘plasticky’. At one time, the killer actually does grab the blade itself. Is that intentional? One would hope so.
Here are the three key reservations I had concerning the film. First of all, the movie is less than two hours long and has around the same amount of scenes with no actual plots. Edit out those scenes and the movie loses twenty minutes, easily. For instance, when the two main love interests crap on about one another instead of what is happening, it became monotonous and dragged far too long. Furthermore, the mandatory opening where Olson and two others are in a hotel room on beds debating what to do with the evening just goes on I said to the television, in a British accent of course, “C’mon, move it along, there’s nothing here to see here.”
Going back to my second point, I do not know why they aimed for a low rating but aside from having Olson there and her do a full frontal nude shower scene, it did not do much for the story of the movie. Or at the very minimum, really nothing other than a footnote in the film’s coda. (If the directors want to explain what I am missing, please feel free in the comments section; and why the scabs?).
In this review, I want to focus on what I consider one of the main flaws of the film, and guess what? It falls into the same category as many other low-budget genre films, which is that the acting, or rather the overacting, has crossed the borders of what is acceptable. Lithgow did it, and on Third Rock from the Sun he got awarded for it and that is quite baffling. As much as I appreciated his different performances, his work in the latter show was horrendous, to say the least. Here, granted several credits some of the actors have, I wonder if there was no effort or too much of effort to chew the scenery in the name of humor or total incompetence. Anyhow, there was one in the film who stood out by the length of the proverbial mile and that was Ava Cronin. Most importantly, she seemed to be p*ssed off the whole time. Her timing was mostly spot on. She snaps off a line and I buy it. Yeah, there was some facial mugging towards the end, but I suspect most of the audience will remember her scenes more than the rest.
It’s a mixed bag for me. The scenery and gore aspects (especially during the opening) of the movie were well done, the sound was great, and the music was nice (I may have blackout during the one rap song), my thoughts on the editing were that it was somewhat long but cohesive, and lighting was perfect for being able to see what was going on during the night; and then there is everything else I have ranted in the past. For those who understand what this is about, some of the faults might be enjoyable. If I am to be fair, I would want to point out that they did win Best Horror at The Dark Zone Film Festival and was official selections at the Alabama Phoenix festival, Marble City Comic Con, and the creative con.
Take it or leave it, as they say, and I get where your coming from, however, there were not a lot of cameras for a reality show. For some inexplicable reason, there is a single one present in a single scene. But, that might just be me Other than that and the DVD missing all extras aside from the trailer, the only thing that the DVD lacks is the Rodney Dangerfield joke “He’s so fat, when he sits around the house, he sits around the house. He’s so big, he has his own area code.” Thanks and good night. Try the veal!
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