Customer Reviews

Triloquist

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Let me start off by saying that 'Triliquist' is not for everyone. Heck, I'd even say that it's not for 98% of movie viewers. This film is for people who like a little corn or cheese (creativity) or however you term it. Angelina and Norbert are given the short end of the stick by a junkie mother. They are forced to live with another relative who likes to 'touch' so this lays out the personality for Angelina, the Dummy and Norbert who must fend for themselves in a world that they just don't get along with. Watch this film with little expectations and you may be surprised i.e. cop on the side of the road and the Dummy with the shotgun had me rolling! But BEWARE! The DVD from Blockbuster and Netflix is edited while I own an edition that has more references to er..body parts and the like. This may have worked better trimmed down as a 'Tales From the Crypt' episode but I like it just the same. At just over an hour and fifteen minutes even if you hate it you won't have much time invested. Some definitely un-politically correct moments in this so a warning for you 'sensitive' types. Group Hug <3 Ha Ha!

If you've seen Leprechaun (who hasn't?)
you should pretty much already know what to expect from writer/director Marc Jones. (something like Leprechaun)
If you're expecting something more than a few cheap tricks,
and a plethora of tongue-in cheek laughs,
you will be sorely disappointed. (3rd degree burn disappointed)

The story here is plastic-wrap thin; (practically transparent)
a perfectly psychotic sister, (psychotically gorgeous)
and her socially deranged brother
set out to Las Vegas to break into show-biz.
(with the wildly popular art of ventriloquism)
With them is the often-hilarious, wise-cracking, possibly magical, family dummy.
(though it's never clear who's hand is up his pants)
Along the way the trio gets into all sorts of zany hi-jinx
(murder, ventriloquism, car-jacking, kidnapping a woman to be psycho bro's bride, etc.)
yet they always manage to find a way out of trouble
using a whole host of unexplained magic tricks.
(nice way to glaze over those plot-holes Mr. Jones)

Don't expect to be frightened, (unless jokes frighten you)
but expect to cringe & laugh
at the low-brow humor that's crammed into every disjointed scenario.
The whole movie feels like a compilation of refreshingly bizarre scenes
you absolutely won't see anywhere else, (unless you're insane)
that have all been nailed together to create some sort of cinematic mutant. (this movie)
Even if it isn't utterly amazing, (it's not)
you gotta give this flick credit
for showing us things no other horror movie ever has.
(you'll never believe what this dummy does with it's mouth)
Have there been ventriolquist horror flix before?
Sure!!!
"Magic", "Dead Silence", The Tales from the Crypt episode "The Ventriloquists Dummy",
but none have ever gone to the ridiculous length this flick has. (Las Vegas)
What this movie lacks in story & character development,
it more than makes up for in entertainment.
This is the movie you don't have to think about; (like at all)
You can just sit back and enjoy it a whole lot more than any ventiloquist act in the country. (unless they have naked ones now)

**Keep an eye out for a cameo by the son from "Sleepwalkers"**

MORAL OF THE STORY:
A talking dummy is alot better than a _moron who won't shut up.

From Mark Jones, the writer and director of the original Leprechaun, comes Triloquist; another exercise in pint-sized horror/comedy that ends up being more bizarre than anything else. Then again, calling Triloquist bizarre is a definite understatement. Payden LoPachin and Rocky Marquette star as psychotic siblings Angelina and Norbert, who are making a trek to Vegas, with their equally psychotic ventriloquist dummy (voiced by Bruce Weitz) in tow. It isn't long before they abduct a girl (Katie Chonacas) whom Angelina hopes Norbert will impregnate to keep their family growing. This is about as close to a plot as Triloquist comes to having, which isn't such a bad thing considering the film gets off to a very darkly humerous start, but sadly quickly loses steam once the road trip begins. Still though, hottie LoPachin is clearly having a good time with the material, and turns in a surprisingly good and magnetic performance that will keep you interested in the flick, even when it degenerates into self-parody. All in all, it's easy to see why so many hate Triloquist, but for what it's worth, there's some morbid fun to be had here, even if it doesn't last as long as you'd like it to.

I love b-movies, and I love horror movies and I loved Leprechaun. But tongue in cheek gags, continuity, story line, gore, surprises, and even special effects are all pretty much missing from this stinker. It wasn't creepy. It wasn't offensive. It wasn't scary. It wasn't funny. It wasn't even unintentionally funny.
It was boring. It was dumb. One star for the poor acting that took itself too seriously. That's it. I'll get more use out of this disc playing catch with the dog. Yes, seriously.

Well, when I first started watching this movie, I felt it was better than I expected. The way it is portrayed is different but watchable. The dummy did very little crazy stuff like "Chucky" { only once or twice}, but had a great sense of humor { mostly politically incorrect stuff} which I really liked. There were some really cool scenes. It is a road trip to Vegas with crazy blonde, mute boy and Bruce Weitz as the "dummy". You never know what is going to happen next, which keeps you interested. However, towards the end things start slowing down, almost becomes boring, but you keep watching because of the potential, thanks to the first 3/4 of the movie. I thought it was better than " Lepechaun"! Hey, It is selling for a dollar or less, you can't loose, give it a shot. No nudity, but some sexual situations.

Its different to the norm and has non stop action/bizarre moments. Its seriously funny and the characters act it well. Certainly not boring more interesting, challenging and will make you gasp time and again in its unpredictability and bizarreness. Entertaining and isnt that the point.

Originality for its own sake of existing, without much else to support it.

The film is narrated by the dummy, right from the prologue in which an aging plastic surgery victim ODs in a hotel room next to the sleeping forms of her two children. The scene is set to goofy, happy music clearly meant to offset the visual horror. The film does this often, including a scene directly following that implying sexual abuse of the junkie's daughter at the hands of her uncle, but to what effect and for what reason I do not know. It doesn't inspire any wicked sense of glee or shocked horror, either of which might have perhaps been the intention.

The same goes for every other bizarre twist in the story and filmmaking technique Mark Jones employs in the seventy-some minutes following the (pretty decent with a nice rendition of "Billy Boy") opening title sequence and prologue. The siblings grow up, Norbert an autistic coward and Angelina a bored, foul-mouthed psychopath, and after butchering a small child on Halloween, Norbert's short stint in a mental home and Angelina's castration of a strip club owner at the mouth of the dummy, the three of them hit the road in a series of increasingly bizarre vignettes which are broken up by Easy Rider-esque driving montagues, complete with quick-zooming-panning-shaking "crazy" camera angles and a variety of teenage-brat rock/pop songs that manage to neither annoy nor elate.

Nothing that transpires in the film is meant to be taken seriously, but it's not particularly funny either. A lot of people are butchered without much gore, but with the exception of the cop on the side of the road (NOTE- this scene contains one of many terribly obvious continuity errors; one of his hands isn't even cuffed when he's supposed to be captured!) none of the sight-gags were humorous. A dummy with a shotgun is, though. Cops and celebrities and motorists are battered, knifed and shot, a rapper is forced at gunpoint to sing while the siblings dance along (again with the "crazy" camera swooping and zooming and cutting everwhere), a girl is kidnapped with the intention of rape and impregnation and there's incest to boot, but none of this will phase you, I can pretty much promise that. It's all in the presentation. Nobody in the film gives a hoot, not the victims, not the siblings, not the cops. Nor will you.

Payden LoPachin as Angelina is easy on the eyes, she's absolutely gorgeous, really, but her performance is so unfathomably flat, with deadpan delivery and quick, clipped shouts-that-aren't-shouts of profanity that I couldn't feel anything for her character beyond a steady state of confusion, which actually matches what I felt for the rest of the film. Rocky Marquette has an easy job as Norbert; he just spreads his lips tight along his face like a really embarrasing constant state of pain or orgasm and occasionally jumps around in a sort of half jig, half I'm-walking-on-hot-coals thing whenever his character is supposed to be elated. No one else in the cast matters besides Bruce Weitz, and he does an admittedly good job with the voice of the dummy, although the character is never clearly defined. If he enjoys killing, why is he so adamant to get Norbert away from, or outright kill, Angelina. What's the point of the antagonistic relationship between them? Are Norbert and the dummy reflections of the same person? Does the dummy even exist, or is he simply a symbol of the madness shared between the siblings passed off as "magic"? I doubt it, mainly because of the events that transpire with the chick they wind up kidnapping.

You can imagine Mark Jones there at the final moments of "Triloquist", standing on the stage, arms spread wide with an expectant look on his face after telling his eighty-minute joke, asking a bewildered audience, "Get it?"

No, Mr. Jones. No, I really don't.

First and foremost, I think the positive reviews here are giving the film way too much credit and are attempts at sounding like they are enlightened individuals who don't need to "take things so seriously". Sometimes, negative comments give certain people more inclination to speak out positively so they can have a flag to live for. Similar to how music elitists force themselves to like terrible bands simply because the mainstream doesn't like them.

I say all this because I'm a fan of bad movies. I really love bad movies. I'm also a huge fan of what I call "novelty killers" which entails stuff like Leprechaun, Jack Frost, Uncle Sam, Gingerdead Man etc... But what sets those films apart from Triloquist is that they're technically sound story structures and clever characters. This script is terrible. It was obviously written around an idea only. "Let's make a movie about a wise-cracking dummy that kills and stuff." Someone pooped and we have the script.

The lead character is absolutely pointless. She has no depth whatsoever. I suppose the idea is that we're supposed to follow along this "wild" ride with a crazy chick and we're supposed to love it because she's hot or something. They really tried too hard to make the characters loony here. It's not even good nonsense. There are films that can get away with nonsense but it still requires good writing.

What's the plot here? Mom dies, doll kills uncle then kids want to go to Vegas so brother can be famous "triloquist" just like mommy. Of course, after the sister sets up her brother to go to a care home for no reason and become a whore to make money so she can get him out again. Did I say become a whore? Yeah, but that never actually happens. It's just the story. You'll see what I mean if you end up watching this junk.

And finally, the dummy. He's the lamest attempt at an "inanimate-object-brought-to-life" I've ever seen. No back story but "who needs one, right?" and he's not funny at all. None of the jokes in this are funny and it's not because I can't laugh at low-brow, raunchy humor. I love offensive, lude jokes and I'll never stop giggling at farts. But this is just not funny. Really, just none of it's funny. Every joke that comes out fails horribly. It's just fail after fail after fail.

So don't give this movie too much credit, guys. It's not the movie that the majority will scoff at but we few see it in the light-hearted view intended. No, this is not one of those films. I find watching no-budget handi-cam films (which I see a lot of) more enjoyable than this. Teenagers with $500.00 put more effort into their stories.

My final note here is that this movie is not good because it's from the writer and director of Leprechaun. Leprechaun worked because there was a solid story structure, the character was clever and the one-liners worked. The dummy just doesn't work and his lines are not associated with his character so they're not clever. The dummy banks on this idea that he can say whatever he wants as long as he uses profanity and we're supposed to find it funny just because it's a dummy saying it. Fail.

you'd think that with all the success and money Dimension and other film studios have aquired from us over the years they would have high standards when it comes to even straight to dvd releases. "Triloquist", like most of the others, is just another example of poor product housed in enticing packaging. aside from being a boring and derivative film about a brother and sister going on a killing spree in the company of a wooden dummy, its comedic attempts fail to cater to a sense of humor in
any form. the only audience that would find any of the jeuvenile dialogue funny are way too young to view this. and for what you would expect from Dimension Extreme, this film is bloodless, hokey and just plain awful. I sure hope the executives arent too shocked when theyre all out of jobs from flooding the market with dissapointing product and finding out that, yes, eventually we got sick of being had. avoid.

From the writer/director of 'Leprechaun,' we're brought another pint-sized horror. After Norbert, the son of a dead ventriloquist, is locked up in an asylum for attacking a young child, his sister, Angelina, and their Dummy break him out and hit the road towards Vegas to put Norbert and Dummy where they belong: onstage.

Where to begin. . . well, I've certainly never seen a film like this. Oh, wait, yes I have, just split up among four (or more) other films. 'Triloquist' plays like a lower-quality mix of 'Pin...,' 'The Devil's Rejects,' 'Child's Play,' and 'Dead Silence'. . . only less funny and a lot worse. It tried to be quirky and cute, but it failed. It tried to be shocking and scary, but it failed. I'm sure it also tried to be well made. Guess what? Failed there too. Other than nervous laughs from my "Oh, it really can't be this bad" thoughts, this film was not funny at all. The plot was erratic and stupid, never settling to get its bearings before moving on to another weak plot turn. The acting was dreadful, except by the mute who did a good job of, um, not talking and looking creepy. The puppet effects were ridiculously bad, and the dummy looked like it had been melted and stuck down a garbage disposal at some point. Dummy didn't have any of the charm, wit, or brutality of Mark Jones's other creation Leprechaun. . . instead, Dummy was just a nuisance. Ugh. There really isn't much good to say, except. . . well. . . it's only eighty minutes.

Final verdict: 3/10.