Sunday, October 12, 2008

DAY 332--INSANE IN THE BRAIN

Can you tell I've been scraping the bottom of the zombie barrel?

INSANE IN THE BRAIN is a reprehensible in-name-only comedy directed by Chad Hendricks in 2007. A would-be spoof of blaxploitation and zombie films, INSANE bears closer resemblance to a third-rate IN LIVING COLOR sketch. The concept, in which pheromones from an inner-city whorehouse awaken the dead to become horny zombies, has definite potential for a raunchy horror-comedy, but Hendrick's oh-so-tedious execution renders the film as enjoyable as a water-boarding session.

If the embarrassingly bad zombie make-up and annoyingly repetitive dialogue isn't enough to drive you from the room--and it should be--Hendricks offers up a buddy-cop subplot that strives to be a pimped-out STARSKY AND HUTCH spoof but remains a desperate assemblage of ghetto stereotypes. (Tip: afros and pimp suits do not a blaxploitation parody make.) That the film is far from the spirit and style of '70s soul cinema (much the same way a dead-baby joke is far from the wit of Oscar Wilde) can be overlooked if it delivers the gory goods, but wouldn't you know it, Hendricks fumbles this ball too. Most of the "horror" seems to involve blow-jobs gone bad--in fact, so much of the film's supposed humor is dick-centric I can't help but wonder about the director's intention--and besides, it takes a backseat to the "comedy," so zombie fans will get the shortest shrift of all here.

A monumental failure at everything it attempts, INSANE IN THE BRAIN made me want to rip out my eyes so I could stuff them in my ears. Easily among the worst movies reviewed for 365 Days.

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