Customer Reviews

Funny Man

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really had fun watching this film. It is a horror-comedy of a higher standard. The movie varies from hilarious to grotesque. The comedy in this movie is derived from the killer being way over the top. Most you see coming, but some catches you off guard. The plot is very rarely on track, and this movie is VERY confusing. However, it gets 4 stars, because the death scenes in this are BRILLIANT on the budget the movie had.
Cheeky comedy, mixed with horrific violence.
Overall, a good buy.

He jokes like Freddy.
He kills like Freddy.
But unlike Freddy he does it with an English accent..... while dressed as a jester.
If you liked flicks like Nightmare on Elm Street, Leprechaun, Child's Play, & Wishmaster
because of their elaborate, creative, comical kills,
and their wisecracking, supernatural villains, than you'll be right at home in Merry Old England with this violently amusing horror comedy.
The deaths are all top notch horror entertainment, every one is unique, and worth the price tag alone
though oftentimes they seem almost looney-toon-ish in nature.
Expect some english humor similar to Monty Python, and expect a lot of it to be directed to the audience itself.
Like the jester is aware you're watching him, and is putting on this show just for you.

Instead of giving away surprises like the description on this page, and the one on the back of the box insist on doing;
Here's a synopsis of the plot without any possible spoilers.
Record exec Max Taylor wins an ancestral mansion in a card game from Christopher Lee!!
So right away that should tell you something is wrong with the house.
Soon after moving his wife & kids in
(and I mean right after, this movie doesn't waste any time)
the bodies start piling up.
An evil jester lives below the house in the village of Sod's Law (Population 1)
An evil jester whose excessively creative arsenal is a homicidal vision of Tom & Jerry proportions.
And he's out for a good time.
Killing anyone & everyone for no good reason at all.
Just the fun of it.
And just like any good jester he knows how to put on a show for his audience.
And as luck would have it even more fun is on the way,
in the form of Max Taylor's brother,
his band (one member of which is Velma from Scooby Doo for whatever reason),
and a Jamaican fortune teller they picked up hitchhiking who sees the danger ahead, and prepares by injecting her hand with god only knows what,
which has an effect on it that only be described as "say what?!".

All in all it's an enjoyable film,
a welcome addition to any horredy library,
especially if you dig british humor, and over the top death scenes.
Worth a purchase, or at the very least a rental.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
He who laughs last..... laughs alone.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:
Nightmare on Elm Street 1 -6, Leprechaun 1-5, Wishmaster 1-3, Triloquist, Child's Play 1-5, Puppet Master 1-8, Waxwork 1&2,
Dr. Giggles, Ice Cream Man, Uncle Sam, Jack Frost, Gingerbread Man, Head of the Family, The Cottage, Hatchet, Botched,

Basic Plot: A mysterious English man (Christopher Lee) loses his mansion-home in a poker game, passing on not only ownership to the young, naive winner (Benny Young), but something much worse along with it -- a homicidal demon-jester known as the Funny Man (Tim James) who infests the house!

The Funny Man turned out to be pretty much what I expected: A strange, low-budget British horror flick with lots of dark, silly comedy. I can't say it was a masterpiece, or even slightly thought-provoking, but it's definitely a fun way to pass an hour and a half. The humor is pretty over-the-top (which I happen to like), and the story is decently interesting and original. But for the most part, the only reason you should see this is for the scenes with Tim James as the whacky evil jester. It's his witty one-liners and eccentric antics that keep the pace flowing. And that's really all it is -- some guy in a surprisingly impressive suit killing off characters in comedic ways. If you're a fan of B movies, this is certainly not as low as you can go in quality. As a matter of fact, it's above most others of its kind. So go on. Have a nice, sinister laugh with the Funny Man!

This is a much overlooked film that has a man winning an old house in England in a poker game and finding out that there's something that comes with the house that he wasn't expecting. The man arrives at the house with his wife and kids (and his nose candy problem, which is played up later in the flick) and also his brother is busily bringing his furniture to him in a van, and picking up strange hitch hikers along the way, one of whom is Pauline Black, the lead singer for British Ska band The Selecter. She brings some hoodoo-voodoo knowledge with her and finds she's up against the real 'man of the house', a strange jester that has a low-key but sadistic way of going about things. Sadisticly funny, that is, as one by one the folks that are at the house are dispatched in strange ways. This is quite the weird little flick and well worth seeing if you like things odd. Christopher Lee plays the original owner of the house but he's not on screen for all that long, just long enough to pass the burden to others and be on his way back to the loony bin. A highly worthwhile film, not exactly sophisticated and suave but definitely a hoot.

Funny Man is a sick and twisted take on the concept of "Punch" (as in Punch and Judy) Freddy Kruger, Leprechaun, and perhaps was also an influence on the "Saw" series.

The film starts off really well, luring the viewer into a very English, and Surreal opening scene, with the great Christopher Lee, however after this it all goes down-hill. As I mentioned before, Christopher Lee is always great, and Tim James is really "unique" as the Funny Man, however my main problem with this film is really "why" was any of this happening at all, there's no overriding sense of purpose, and only a vague attempt at a "morality play".

I do like some of the grotesque slayings, and bizarre one liners of the "Funny Man" and I found the character of "Zelma" funny, as she looks like the girl from the original "Scooby-Doo" cartoon, and is cute. Overall it's a good concept, starts well, loses steam and finally just peters out, it is actually a very sick little film, with some good, surreal and possibly chemically enhanced scenes. Simon Sprackling is certainly onto something here, but what, and more importantly, why?

"funny man" is every bit the classic that it has long been promoted as, and is very affordably priced at $18.96. what more can anyone ask?

There is nothing funny about a movie that was as horrible as this one,,,instead of being a horror movie,,,it was more of a tragedy,,,tragic that it was produced.

After a solid opening scene, followed by a promising set-up, "Funny Man" loses all it's steam with a series of unimaginative murders, surreal settings, and only moderately amusing jokes from the titular character at the expense of his victims. This British answer to Freddy Kruger lacks any suspense, irony, or wit as it seems to be an excuse for whacking a buch of mostly undesireable characters. The ending is somewhat flat, and at this point I felt no vested interest in neither victim nor killer. Not even my appreciation of English humour could really keep my interest. As a huge fan of the macabre, this one really dissapointed me.

Simon Sprackling's "FUNNY MAN" is a horror/comedy like no other! If you took the movie "Leprechaun" mashed it together with the comedy style of "The Kids In The Hall" add a few buckets of chunky red stuff & then took some lysergic acid diethylamide the outcome would be something like this demented nightmare. This underrated freakshow defines the words cult classic & is a must have for anyone who enjoys the hell out of goofy horror films.

This is the Tim James classic - a film of it's era, and a definative statement within the comedy genre. Recommended to anyone with a sense of humour, or who wants to acquire a sense of humour.