There’s nothing like a good vacation to settle the nerves, or in some cases… sever… the nerves. At least that’s what you might find at Coconut Pete’s Pleasure Island. Forget Camp Crystal Lake, this is the vacation resort to die for. If you found yourself laughing at the comedy troupe Broken Lizard’s “Super Troopers”, there’s no doubt you’ll laugh at their new parody film, “Club Dread.” These guys were given a slightly bigger budget after the runaway success of their first effort, and this time around they opted to take on the ‘slasher movie’ genre. Not that the slasher movie genre hasn’t become somewhat of a parody of itself lately. But here you’ll find all manner of the young and beautiful as they meet their maker at the hands of a machete wielding maniac. The members of Broken Lizard star, along with a few name actors. The most notable of the bunch is Bill Paxton as the perpetually drunk owner of the island resort.

I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Paxton in such a lowbrow comedy years ago, but as he has built his career and become quite the accomplished actor and director, his presence is a bit of a surprise. Then we have the eye candy portion of the film comes in the form (and quite the shapely forms I might had) of Jordan Ladd, daughter of Cheryl and seen most recently in a state of decomposition in “Cabin Fever”, and Brittany Daniel.

“Club Dread” offers up a pretty hit and miss formula for comedy. Some of the jokes work really well, but there are times when some of the humor gets a little too silly to be taken as serious comedy (think about it, it really makes sense). For the most part I thought the movie was pretty funny, but there were just way too many crotch and poop jokes for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I love good crotch and poop jokes, but you can get too much of a good thing, and they get a little tiresome in this film.

If there is any weak link to the movie I can see, it’s with the members of the Broken Lizards themselves. I get the sense that they are pretty creative guys, but their acting leaves a lot to be desired. Granted, I don’t expect Academy Award performances in a goofy comedy but I’d like to see at least that they got something out of being in high school drama.

There really aren’t any extra features to speak of on Fox’s DVD release of “Club Dread”, with the exception of two commentaries. The first is by director Jay Chandrasekhar (try spelling that 3 times… heck, just try spelling it once…) and the other is by all the members of Broken Lizard. This second one is a fairly funny, but neither is especially worthwhile.

I can only promise you a lot of laughs out of “Club Dread”, if you are really into crude, lowbrow humor. I was really hoping it would be funnier than it was, but still got a kick out of some of what I saw. I see this as a perfect film for the often-drunk college crowd during a late night frat party.

Directed by: Jay Chandrasekhar
Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar,
Extras: Commentary by Director Jay Chandrasekhar, Commentary by Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe
Specifications: Widescreen
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 5/25/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R
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We'll give Club Dread a C.