A Meowy Halloween

No words to describe what happens during this films

You know those cheesy movies you once watched after midnight in the basement? The ones that were really bad? Well, this one is bad alright, but it's so bad it actually goes all the way around to good again. And that is no easy achievement.

My grandkid started watching this thing while I was in the other room. It generated so much excitement I had to see what was going on. Slowly, over the course of its 50 or so minutes, it drew me in. Obviously the filmmakers had a blast making it, and it earns a lot of charm that way.

It's crazy and zany, with actors who obviously cannot act, and don't really try anyway, and that leads to its charm. A menagerie of talking animals, cheesy effects, a feline lead, an unclear story line, a hilarious Zoom call, and a brief subplot about two possibly lesbian women make this worth at least one watch.

What can I say about this little piece of crazy? Even my kids hated it. They might need therapy now. It's like a group of college kids got hammered and/or high and made a movie. The camera shook the entire time, the dialogue is terrible, the props are sad. It's choppy and disjointed. Maybe the goal was to make an intentionally bad movie. If that's the case, they NAILED IT. I gave it 2 stars because the cat and rat deserve recognition for being involuntarily cast. They were cute, at least. How the hell does it have a 6 star rating?! Do yourself a favor and avoid this brain cell destroying abomination. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get Botox to remove the brow crease created by watching 20 minutes of this "movie".

I thought this would be a cheesy perfect kids movie with the talking animals and stuff. But instead I found this GEM. Somehow bad video and audio quality plus terrible plot and acting paired with no budget created a MASTERPIECE. I got a full an workout laughing at this train wreck. I truly believe this movie saved me from the depression the rest of my life caused. I cringed more than I have ever cringed before and then I cringed some more. I want to make it clear I LOVE this movie and all of its imperfections (although I do acknowledge that is a mess). This cinematic masterpiece has accomplished what no other film has: they made something out of nothing. I still don't understand what this movie was about and I could not for the life of me explain the plot to anyone even if I watched it 10 more times. Overall, best 48 minutes of my life.

Filmmaker Steve Rudzinski is well practiced of the very low-budget and the very ridiculous. While this may not be the premiere example thereof, it's still a whole lot of silly fun fitting neatly into his oeuvre. Take one earnest but bumbling fool of a (human) protagonist, add feline and rodent companions that speak perfect English (to each other), and stir in perfectly (deliberately) ungenuine stunts and "effects," and voila! - 'A meowy Halloween.'

The same delightful sense of humor fills these 50 minutes as populates Rudzinski's other features, including not least 2017's 'A meowy Christmas' and its 2020 sequel. In addition to the abject inauthenticity, we're treated to puns and quips (including passing backhanded social commentary), exaggerated characters, situational humor, and some minor physical comedy. To a degree that to me seems even beyond its sister movies, 'A meowy Halloween' is also flush with plentiful, delicious referential humor - in this instance, abundant nods to various horror flicks. The latter flourishes might be the best part of the film, and they help to compensate for a few inclusions that don't quite land.

In some measure I think this feature suffers from stilted pacing that diminishes some of the humor. It, uh, took me a lot longer than 50 minutes to watch this once I first pressed "play." This is unfortunate, not least for how enjoyable the film is generally - but on the other hand, any weaknesses are well outweighed by the cheeky cleverness involved, and the earnest love of making movies that everybody demonstrates here. Though imperfect, the only intent was to have a good time with some brazen tomfoolery, and 'A meowy Halloween' ably meets that goal. The style here won't appeal to all comers, but anyone who can appreciate shoestring cinematic fare should be capably entertained. Worth a mere 50 minutes of one's time? Yeah, I think so!