Suburban Gothic

Decent watch, could watch again, but can't recommend.

I watched this excited to see Kat Dennings in a movie again, but she really ends up playing second fiddle to Matthew Gray Gubler who basically carries the movie. While he actually seems like a good actor and was able to add a flavor to his character that I couldn't tell that if it was just him shining through, the truth of the character or he elevated the character with a special twist, so this puts him on my to watch out for list.

The story itself is really lackluster. There are a lot of familiar faces, and the minute to minute is generally pretty entertaining, but the weirdness of finding a hidden kiddie coffin and trying to lay a ghost to rest gets weird when it's stretched over a long period of time without getting intense.

I'm all for different, and I can't call this bad, but there are so many other good things to watch instead.

I first saw Excision, and was kind of intrigued by it, so I checked out Bates Jr newest movie, which is this one, Suburban Gothic.

Now, this is a pretty strange movie. It seems like it can't quite decide what it is. It has quite a lot of weird comedy, or at least I think it is supposed to be funny, it didn't really hit home for me. The comedic timing seems way off a lot of the time, with a lot of wasted potential. Maybe I just didn't get it.

But this is not just a comedy, it is a horror comedy. Horror comedies are my favorite genre, nothing beats horror comedy if done right. Anyway, some of the scary scenes in this movie are actually quite creepy. But I think they drown in the weirdness of the rest of the movie.

We get a tiny bit of Jeffrey Combs, that's always nice, also a small cameo from John Waters. The father is kind of cool, and the main guy is weird, but OK.

To sum up: kooky movie, weird humor which I didn't really find very funny (let it be said: I'm a tough crowd, laughter wise), some creepy scenes, very simple story. OK.

It doesn't squarely fit comedy/horror or any other label, but it's fun (and a little dark) with some interesting characters and laugh-out-loud moments.

Matthew Gray Gubler is great as the man-child and Ray Wise is perfect as his father.

There are a few scenes sprinkled through the film that look oddly "cheap". Perhaps late pickups or second unit production. They're kinda distracting but don't ruin the film.

Matthew Gray Gubler is perfect in this. Ray Wise is at his best. Kat Dennings is underutilized, though. She has great comedic timing and presence and is not given enough of it to perform. The editing could have been tighter, giving it more flow. But I like that this movie is exactly what it wants to be and is unapologetic about it.

If you like quirky movies, this is for you. If you like your horror straight, best to skip this one.

Kat Dennings will probably always be an underrated actress until she gets the "it" role she needs. Until then she will do bad movies like this, but she has enough star power to get people to see it. All that aside, the main character is so irritating I wanted to punch him in the face every time he opened his mouth, except one scene.

"Ok, I'll look into his work. What's your favorite movie of his?" "Running out of Bullets" "I'll watch that one first."

Also, John Waters is Jesus Christ, so it's a must watch. But overall it was a pretty lame movie.