Doghouse...

June's double-flick cine-trip's second movie kicked the ass of the last 'second in a day' movie we saw at the cinema (which was the utterly pish Observe & Report) - plus we'd had Pizza Hut between screenings, so my gut and blood sugar was thoroughly happy after an ice-cold Pepsi and a delicious individual-size (i.e. the literally perfect portion) Meat Feast pan-pizza ... it makes me want one right now just talking about, so I'd better shut up and start blog-juicing about Doghouse!

Was it ever going to be Shaun of the Dead? No it wasn't, and neither was Lesbian Vampire Killers, but that's not the point, and when you think about it for a moment, it's not even a fair target to aspire to. Shaun of the Dead was simply too good to be beaten.

Shaun of the Dead "ish" or "like" perhaps - as in, it's a "British horror comedy".

It'd be far more worthwhile to compare LVK and Doghouse - so which one wins out of the two (both released this year) - Doghouse wins. It's got a far more consistent style than LVK, it has more gore, it's funnier, and it's better constructed.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Lesbian Vampire Killers, but it generally felt a bit inconsistent and rushed, and then it all kind of fell apart towards the end. Doghouse on the other hand sticks to its guns, and provides the viewer with a greater sense of consistency from start to finish. You're not rushed into things - you get the required set-up time - but you're not left checking your watch either.

I rather enjoyed Jake West's previous flick Evil Aliens, so I'm really glad to see he's getting to play with a bigger budget and bigger names. Doghouse (adapted from a cult comic) is a horror film for horror fans, it's for the 'nerds' in the crowd, the sort of person who relishes in the gloopy gore of The Evil Dead ... primarily at least. It plays well to those not versed in the world of Sam Raimi before Spider-Man or the 1990s, or 'pre-Rings' Peter Jackson, but it certainly helps if you're a lover of Sam Raimi's madcap horror stylings.

Doghouse has a better-than-average bucket of gore to chuck around (although a few more stand-out gore-gags like in Evil Aliens would have been welcomed by the Evil Dead lovers in the audience), Danny Dyer's 'geezer schtick' doesn't wear thin, and the general feel of utter daftness was a real pleasure to watch.

It doesn't dawdle - which was ideal for a second-screening on a double-dip trip to the cinema like we were doing at the time - and, put simply, it's a good fun slab of Grindhouse-ish exploitation horror comedy. Buckets of fun - so here's hoping that it gets a spiffing treatment on DVD for the genre fans to lap up.

The Hangover...

I was a bit neutral towards this Vegas-set comedy when I saw the trailer (and Mark Kermode's distinct disliking of it made me a bit weary), but then again it's from Todd Phillips who has given me a good few chuckles in the past with the likes of Old School (and a couple of others that slip my mind right now).

As soon as I saw it was a Vegas-set comedy, I immediately thought of Fear & Loating In Las Vegas (which is great) and Very Bad Things, which I saw a number of weeks ago for the first time (good black comedy) ... so I guess that's where a bit of my trepidation came from as well ... but regardless, the lads and I were off to have a double-film Sunday cinema jaunt, and The Hangover was first up (Doghouse would follow).

I was pleasantly entertained, I'm glad to say. The last time we went on a double-flick cine-trip, we went to see I Love You, Man (which was good fun) and Observe & Report (which was pish - and even more hard going as it was the second movie in our double bill, and my blood sugar was rock bottom).

It's not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, and I didn't guffaw uproariously, but I got plenty of solid laughs throughout and was awarded with numerous 'bits' to mimmick with the lads as we waited for our post-Hangover movie Pizza Hut pizzas.

Undoubtedly, the biggish dude with the beard ("fat Jesus" as he was mocked in the movie) stole the entire movie, but the rest of the cast did well by keeping you on side for continued chuckles also ... Heather Graham wasn't in it much though, was she? Then again, it's really about the four guys, so nevermind that observation.

I'll look forward to no doubt giving it a second viewing with the lads sometime in the future for another DVD night-in, because that's how this flick works best - watching it with the lads.

Oh, and weirdly enough, the bit where "fat Jesus" eats a slice of pizza dug out from the back of a sofa really made me crave a Meat Feast pizza ... and so, in-between showings, I went and had a Meat Feast pizza in Pizza Hut ... and it was fucking lush!