Hysterical

There are enough good things about this little-known comedy that the viewer really wants it to work. The Hudson brothers are charismatic and often funny, but the overall ineptness of the production seems to smother them. Despite some very funny gags and lines, Hysterical is hopelessly bogged down by redundancy and a myriad of technical problems. The fact that the director of this film has no other directorial credits may be one indication of why things went badly.

The story centers around a disillusioned yet successful writer who decides to spend a month in a quaint coastal Oregon town to write "the great American novel". Most of his books have been trashy sex stories, and one of the running gags of the film shows people reading his latest book wherever he goes. Even inside a loony bin. Anyway, no sooner does the writer arrive in his new town, than things start going haywire. The body of a deceased sea captain surfaces in the harbor, for example. And the spirit of his old mistress haunts the writer after he moves into the captain's old lighthouse. The town folk are baffled as to the strange goings on, and two crazed adventure seekers are called in to help solve the trouble.

The film is a vehicle for the three Hudson brothers who play the writer and the two adventurers. This film was apparently supposed to make them the Marx Bros of the 1980s. Needless to say, that didn't happen. The three of them are likable, but the material is just too cheesy in many aspects of the film. There are some very funny lines and a few of the running gags are quite funny, too. One involving a crazy guy on a bike warning people "they're doomed" has some clever angles. Of course this is a spoof of the guy from Friday the 13th 1 & 2, and this film spoofs countless other films along the way. One hilarious scene spoofs The Exorcist. The film also hits some good notes with a scene in a library where apparently the only black resident of the town works.

There are all kinds of things wrong with Hysterical, though. First of all, this film was about as technically inept as any film I've ever seen not called R.O.T.O.R.. The lighting is so minimal that you can hardly see which characters are even in some scenes. The editing is choppy, and the special F/X are putrid. Some gags are revisited way too often. There are a total of three musical numbers; one of them seems to last forever. Then there are times when the ancient technique of speeding up the film is used to emphasize the fact that we the audience should be laughing now. And the film has a cheap look to it in general. Even if a film has a tiny budget, there are ways make it look less obvious.

Overall, this film was a nice try, but just not good enough to launch anyone's career. The Hudson brothers are like that crazy uncle everyone has who can be funny for a while, but he just doesn't realize when to turn it on or off. Honestly, there just wasn't enough funny material here to stretch it out into a full length movie. In the end we get a marginally funny film that looks cheap, and probably resulted in more than a few wet and bored actors. Many of them appearing in much better films before and after this one.

4 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

This movie makes me laugh every time I watch it. I first saw it when I was 4 and I often sought to find a copy of it. I bought it when I was a kid and have had it ever since. It consists of many funny scenes, including a library/chase sequence, and a battle between humans and former psychiatric patients turned zombies at the top of a lighthouse. Can we say The Fog?

Those panning this film are taking the jokes at pure face value. And that's good, because the film doesn't try to be too clever, but some of the humor requires you to sit back, burn a thought or two, and then sit back with a chuckle or grin. Thus I think some of those people giving the film a thumbs down are expecting a bit much.

It's the kind of film that's worth being a cult classic, but was striving for more.

So, does anyone remember the Hudson Brothers? Me neither ... OK, that's not entirely true, when I was younger I vaguely remember seeing a small portion of their short lived (and thankfully defunct) TV show.

The Hudson brothers can (and I emphasize; CAN) be funny, but more often than not spend so much time trying to be clever that they themselves forget that they too need to create a joke or two, and not just pull a semi-clever gag or act funny while relying on some clever visual references.

Well, the thing's out on DVD, but no letterbox nor commentary on this disk (go figure). And I'm glad for that, for if the Hudson Brothers had decided to make a collector's edition of their film, then it would've shown that they still hadn't learned their lesson from years back.

Even so, like a lot of the other aficionados, it's primitive (and I mean that in a good way) sense of humor is worth a few smiles, and an occasional laugh. It's a good hearted film that means well, and does no harm.

Something that might've helped this movie during production would've been a better film stock grade, and a more professional shooting schedule because it looks as if it were shot as a made for TV movie, even though it saw theatrical release. This tells me that someone above the Hudson Brothers knew not only the film's ultimate fate, but also that of the Hudson Brothers' comedy career.

You may well be asking yourself, "Who are the Hudson brothers?". Rest assured, they aren't funny, as isn't anything in this unique oddity of a film. It almost has a style, in it's uniqueness, While still hearing echoes of, "You're doomed", said a score of times by one of the crazy characters in this piece, this just represents the painful void of humor. That aside, it still manages to be entertaining, as being different. Burt Cort is superb, and almost unrecognizable as a nutty scientist, and Richard Kiel as a ghost captain, is unforgettable, while Pickett turns in a cute performance, as the apple of our troubled lead's eye. All in all, this is still worth a watch, amid some real stupid annoying moments. No side splitting humor or humor of any kind, as the same with Yellowbeard. Sorry folks.

I remember when I was eleven my best friend at school got me to watch this on video. We hardly watched any movies together either, so it sticks in my memory a bit. I must admit, I recall not finding Hysterical all that good, even way back then as a kid. Having just rewatched it for the first time since, I have to conclude that that wasn't a very unfair assessment. Its essentially a spoof of the horror genre in general, with riffs on various films such as The Exorcist, Jaws, The Shining etc. It stars the Hudson Brothers, who I know nothing about out with this movie. Seemingly they were teen idol pop stars in the early 70's and moved into TV comedy sketch territory. This movie was clearly designed to launch them into a film career in the 80's. This plan seems to have epically failed and they subsequently disappeared from cinema immediately afterwards. The story has a writer move to a coastal town to live in a lighthouse and before long discovers that it is the source of a haunting which is plaguing the local town. Two paranormal investigators are brought in to try and sort it out.

Its not really very surprising that the Hudson Brothers failed to ignite after this. While the humour is abundant, its hopelessly delivered and clunky throughout. People mention that the Hudsons were probably trying to emulate the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker team that made Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane or Mel Brooks who hade made a successful career out of film spoofery but in this film, the Hudson's more closely resemble Britain's Cannon and Ball, who made one unfunny move, The Boys in Blue, and then disappeared from our cinema screens forever more. The jokes here just aren't very good and the Hudson's aren't delivering them very well. There's a surprisingly good support cast on hand and there are some memorable side characters such as a guy on a bike who keeps on telling anyone and everyone that 'they're doomed'. But its slim pickings all round though really. All that being said, despite its poorness, it is a likeable enough endeavour and has a goofy charm of sorts, so its hard to truly dislike.