Review of The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) by Chie B — 19 Apr 2012

There are a few chuckles here for exploitation fans, but ultimately The Haunted World of El Superbeasto fails due to drowning itself in half or even no-arsed sex humour and annoying language. Which is a shame, because I desperately want to love this film. (Full review inside.).

Let me be honest: I love exploitation films. I love them to death. One of my all time favourite movies is the surrealistic exploitation masterpiece, "The Forbidden Zone" by Richard & Danny Elfman; yes, THAT Danny Elfman. =3 The Forbidden Zone was its own bizarre and beautifully brilliant entity that paid homage to Jazz, Vaudeville, and the Pre-code era Fleischer studios animation while taking the viewer into a bizarre world unto its own, all while providing servings of exploitation goodness on the way.

Which is why I was very, very excited for The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. It sounded like the next best thing to The Forbidden Zone, and it even had more or less the same genesis; coming from the mind of a musician, a close family member, and his various friends that aims to pay homage to their favourite genres and animators. However, the problem here is that while The Forbidden Zone offered a tray of exploitation on the side and putting its heart and soul into the various homages, The haunted world of El Superbeasto drowns in the exploitation and has absolutely no heart nor soul to back it up.

I have nothing wrong with cursing, and I have nothing wrong with nudity or even toilet humour - but it has to be done right. El Superbeasto clearly loves these things, there isn't five minutes without at least one pair of cartoon breasts on display, several curses, and at least one fart joke. But there is almost no effort in many of the perverse antics on display. It has the mindset of a horny 13 year old - it thinks that sexual actions or displays are immediately a joke just because they are sexual. Granted, sex CAN be a joke... but just flashing cartoon breasts or having people in the background screwing is not a joke, even though El Superbeasto thinks it is. This movie made me pine for the much better animated sex comedies by Ralph Bakshi, in which there was usually SOME set up or punchline.

It also doesn't help that the primary protagonists are all annoying in some way. The eponymous El Superbeasto, a former celebrity luchador, is a one trick pony who spouts 80s references and jive talk in a "smooth" voice that makes him sound like a complete douche, and you spend half the film wanting to stick a steel toed boot up his arse; if only it would shut him up for 5 seconds.

Suzi-X, El Superbeasto's sister, is a little more tolerable - there are moments where her speedy banter and accent are kind of cute and funny, but for the most part it too grates on your ears and when she isn't scalding El Superbeasto for being a pervert... she's usually taking off her clothes or being fondled by her robot. Talk about a double standard.

And... oh god, Velvet Von Black. The film KNOWS she's annoying, and the joke is supposedly that she is annoying. Sometimes - this can work, having a character to annoy the audience for awhile can be the perfect set-up for some black humour; torturing the audience at length with the character, then providing them with relief, and laughter, when the character is finally silenced. Sadly, every goddamn scene this character is in is torture - and we never get to see her silenced until the credits roll.

Ironically the only character I truly liked was... the villain! Paul Giamatti plays the villain, Dr. Satan, and he completely steals the show. Dr. Satan is hilarious, and most of the funny scenes revolve around him in some way, shape or form. It's not the first time we've seen a "Dork" villain, but Dr. Satan is one good enough to carry his own film. I'd pay to see The Haunted World of Dr. Satan any day over El Superbeasto's.

..and to be fair, Dr. Satan isn't the films only strong point. There *ARE* some moments of gleeful, exploitation laced bliss - like when Suzi-X kidnaps Hitlers pickled head and gets chased by Nazi Zombie Werewolves on motorbikes; whose leader, played by Rob Paulsen, is pretty funny too even if my inner-child can't escape imagining Dr. Scratchansniff from Animaniacs as a nazi zombie now. (Paulsen gives this character more or less the same voice.).

The animation is also quite good, even if it is undeniably trying maybe a little *too* hard at times to look like the work of John K. But that's where some of the charm hides, as half-assed as the actual humour often is, the animation is always... well, animated and very busy - which at least makes the film pleasing on the eyes, even if the amount of cartoon nudity is enough to turn you off of the real thing for awhile. It also has a decent soundtrack, most of the tunes are catchy - even if they too, waste too much time on pointless vulgarity. The main exceptions being the theme for the Nazi Zombie Werewolf Bikers when they chase Suzi-X, and the very funny song "Why'd you have to rip off Carrie?" that plays during, you guessed it, a Carrie spoof of sorts with Dr. Satan.

It really is a shame this film didn't turn out better; it has plenty of potential, and the makers of the film show that they have the guts to churn out exploitation cinema - but not actually add any humour to it, which needless to say, is a crippling blow for a so-called comedy.