Customer Reviews

The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My dad gave me this movie to watch and, based on the cover, I thought it was going to be another stupid, National Lampoon sex-comedy. I was very suprised to find that it is very watchable and has an interesting plot. The humor is more character-driven; it isn't all gags. I really liked this movie and would reccomend it to anyone.

If you're scratching your head right now and wondering why I'm reviewing a National Lampoon flick, never fear this particular Lampoon production isn't quite what one might expect from the geniuses that brought you Dorm Daze and Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure. No, The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell is a wildly original post-nuke indie comedy that features cannibals, robots, assassins, hillbillies, demons, hot beotches, politicians and a bloated, coked-out Daniel Baldwin.

The acting, as one might expect from an indie production, was occasionally amateurish and some of the dialogue felt ad-libbed but the production design was decent, the mixture of live-action and cell animation was inspired and the wrap-around story featuring History Channel commentary by various authors and historians was delightfully funny. What could have been a poorly written, straight-to-DVD, low budget attempt at sci-fi/comedy with way too much Macintosh CG turned out to be a surprisingly creative genre film that reminded me quite a bit of Six-String Samurai.

The film's got satire and subtext but most viewers are going to be looking for blood, guts, hanging eyeballs, torn out spines, tits, gouges, snapped necks, torn off limbs, bodies on spikes and one of the funniest "scream, faint, scream, faint" sequences I've ever seen and, thankfully, we get it all plus the deep meaning. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to part two if Wheatley and Gillette do indeed decide to further the adventure of New America's political pioneers.

It appears as if National Lampoon attempted to create a cult classic by using some standard formula. However, it is the viewers who give cult status, not the makers of the film. 20 years after American is destroyed by bombs, people emerge from their shelters. While they were in their shelters they listened to the radio broadcast of one man who proclaimed himself king and his nephew (who is blind) to be his heir. A man named Tex Kennedy (a Jack Black wanna-be) along with 2 androids (no real special effects) seek out the nephew, Benjamin to fulfill the prophecy. Meanwhile the lunatic son of the broadcaster with his small band of idiots seek Benjamin to kill him. Along their travels, Tex encounters "Cannibal Sue" (Christian name: Cannibal Susan)who they take with them, in a cage. The characters all come together at a beach party in Pensacola run by Satan. There is blood, killing, language, and very brief nudity. New characters are introduced into the movie as it moves along by use of either flashbacks or a futuristic story teller imitating Masterpiece Theater. At times I thought it was going to be a parody of Hamlet, then a satire of the 1960's, then simply a bad movie. It is not laugh out loud funny. The movie isn't deep enough to make you think. I would recommend seeing "A Boy and His Dog" before watching this movie.

One of the WORST films ever. A real piece of Junk. It just rambles on. NOT FUNNY. One star is too much. It is like a really bad SNL skit that goes on for over an hour. It is just work to watch. In the beginning you think the film will lead to something if you give it a chance, but it doesn't. You will wear out the fast foward button on your DVD controls, and turn it off before the end, because you won't care what happens next. I love B movies and even C movies, but this is way below them. I will never trust the National Lampoon brand name again. Use the DVD is a frisbee and you will enjoy it more.

They should ship this movie to club gitmo and make the terrorists watch it. I couldn't get through the first 20 minutes of this movie. It was pure torture!!!

In 2077, a child by the name of Tex Kennedy is placed into a bunker, by himself, before the nukes hit that wipe about 98% of the world's population. In 2097, Tex Kennedy, a grown man now, emerges from the bunker with a mission. To help with the ruling of New America. With his trusty dysfunctional robots, he begins his search for the prophesized Benjamin Remington, the man that will be King of New America. Together, they will need to get to a radio tower to help unite the lone survivors of America. But the tower just happens to be in a certain part of America called, The Threshold of Hell. For some reason, the people here were protected by the blast. Some would think it might be magic, or maybe even the work of Satan. With the help of some unlikely friends, such as a Cannibal Sue and Javier Castro, they must get to the tower, before Benjamin's crazy brother, the Jackal.

The first time I began to watch this, I stopped probably 10 minutes in. I couldn't stand the coloring, and it just seemed very cheap. Then, thanks to me making myself watch all the movies I own in alphabetical order no matter what, I finally got to see this little gem. I honestly laughed quite a lot. Everyone is pretty funny, but Kevin Wheatley (Tex Kennedy) is very funny with his witty lines. The whole story is great, even though filled with plot holes and goofiness. This is definitely not the best movie ever, but for a B-Movie, that is pretty low budget, it's great. It really is. The characters were funny, and some were almost epic, for a movie like this. Even my friend who I was watching this with, who doesn't care for B movies that much, laughed quite a bit too. He said the movie was `Eh', but he still laughed. Also check out the Outtakes, some funny stuff there to. I liked when Tex and the two robots were running up a sandy hill, and one of the robots trips up the other robot and he hits face first into the sand, making them all trip each other up. I laughed pretty hard at that... hehe.

While the movie is low budget, and the story is pretty crazy, the movie was definitely a fun watch. I was definitely surprised. Just make sure you sit through the first 10 or 15 minutes. Give it some patience. Can't wait for the sequel (that they tease you with at the end)!

P.S. - My friend and I joked about how it looked like 95% of the movie was filmed in the same spot. Well I guess it was. IMDB says that most of it was filmed on the beaches of Pensacola, Florida. Man I miss living next door to Pensacola.

What a title ! Building expectations to something interesting....instead you get a disdainful pieeece. They tryed but failed miserably. I forced my self to watch for maybe half the movie, but felt so cheated for the wasted time. I could have been washing my toilet. Very possibly the poorest result ever put out on film.

Wow, I kinda wanna do a video review for this, but I don't have a video camera. But that shows you the amount of enthusiasm I have for this movie that I'm making hypothetical video reviews. This movie overflows with imagination and the filmmakers' enthusiasm shines bright. Oh, and it's funny. Buy this movie, watch it a couple dozen times, let a good friend borrow it, then when it's never returned, buy another one.

And stay happy!

This is a great movie. The first time I saw it was a couple years ago at the Pensacola Film Festival. The whole cast and crew did a great job on creating this movie.
I'm very into keeping up with all the celebrity, movie, and tv news all the time. I like how the DVD shows all the hard work that goes into making a film.

Only thing I have a question about and maybe someone can help me, is a tech problem I keep having with the DVD. My 3rd copy just arrived yesterday and still having problems. When I put it in, it wont allow me to go to the menu. It keeps forcing me to watch like 15 minutes worth of previews first, and while going through the previews, the first 2 copies wont allow me to fast forward, stop, or pause it. Then keeps having problems with jumping really bad too in the movie itself.
The 3rd copy just arrived yesterday, and it will let me pause it, but the other things fast forward and stop not working. This happens on all the DVD players I have, and no other DVD's having any problems.

Thanks,
Amy

I found this movie to be pretentious, idiotic, and not at all funny. I caught myself wondering what sort of person could actually get intrigued by this. It's not tongue-in-cheek enough to be campy, and it's not subtle enough to be satire. It was impossible for me to suspend my disbelief and swallow the idea that this was happening in a far future devastated by nuclear warfare. I expected that at any given moment the camera would turn and reveal the entire film crew, complete with the director wearing a hawaiian shirt, sitting in his chair under a beach umbrella, and sipping a fancy cocktail. I couldn't care about any of the characters. The beginning animations were interesting enough, but after about 20 minutes it disintegrated towards total boredom. I couldn't last past 45 minutes. A complete waste of time. If you want a morbidly funny/bizarre post-apocalyptic movie, try Delicatessen.