Review of Evil Bong (2006) by Daniel L — 03 Dec 2009

There was a bit of apprehension I felt when it came to watching Charles Band's Evil Bong. Don't get me wrong, I love Full Moon Features and have so since I was very young. But the idea that the studio made a stoner horror/comedy film didn't seem like it would make for an entertaining time. Lately the studio's quality in film-making has slipped up, and it felt like Band no longer had the same passion he had in the past with his' films. But luckily Evil Bong did make for a good time, and while it isn't perfect I still enjoyed watching this film.

The movie is about a college student, Alister (David Weidoff), who moves into an apartment with three stoners; rich-kid Larnell (John Patrick Jordan), surfer-dude Bachman (Mitch Eakins) and failed baseball player Brett (Brian Lloyd). Before moving in Alister wasn't aware that his new roommates were all pot-heads, but he tries to make the best of his current situation. Unfortunately Larnell purchases a supposedly "cursed" bong via an ad he reads in High Times, and things get out of hand from there.

Evil Bong doesn't do much as far as story goes, nor does it do anything original or truly that funny with its stoner elements. All of the characters are pretty typical, and at times this can get irritating. Alister is an overly nerdy character who is given far too many "big words" to make him sound smarter than the trio of pot-heads. I also didn't like how the cover for the DVD made it seem like Tommy Chong played a huge part in the film, when in fact he isn't in the film until the very end.

But there is a level of fun with this film that made most of the problems not so bad. The movie has a decent roster of special appearances, of which are a few popular stars from past Full Moon features, not to mention that a few monsters from other Full Moon movies, like Ooga Booga from Doll Graveyard and the Gingerdead Man, make cameos as well. And while I didn't understand why this evil bong, named Eebee (voiced by Michele Mais), spoke in sassy street lingo, I enjoyed hearing the character speak and liked Mais' voice acting. Also, the film has a pretty decent soundtrack, and some nice interludes that play between each scene.

Evil Bong might have seemed funnier if I were stoned; which is an act I gave up 9 years ago. Watching it non-stoned, Evil Bong isn't that bad of a film. When you compare this one to many of the recent Full Moon movies that have been released (Skull Heads comes to mind), this one is a breeze to get through. It doesn't expand on the stoner genre, or the horror genre at that, but it doesn't ruin it either.