16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just plain awesome, September 22, 2009
Whether or not you are a fan of Rob Zombie's music or films is irrelevant, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is a pure blast. If you can, imagine Fritz the Cat minus the political commentary and double the nudity and violence, as Zombie adapts his own comic to tell the story of professional wrestling super celebrity Beasto (voiced by Tom Papa) who is on a never ending adventure of action and babes. He and his hot, Nazi-zombie hunting sister Suzi X (voiced by Sheri Moon Zombie) embark on a quest to rescue foul-mouthed stripper Velvet Von Black (voiced by Rosario Dawson) from marrying wanna-be world conquerer Dr. Satan (voiced by Paul Giamatti). In the middle of all this are plenty of "I can't believe what I just saw" moments, blink-and-you'll-miss-them visual gags, hilarious songs and music, and plenty of animated graphic ultraviolence; so much so that you can't help but enjoy what you find here. Yes, as you can probably tell by now, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto isn't for everyone, but if any of the aforementioned sounds appealing in the least, you are almost guaranteed to love this animated flick, regardless whether or not you're a Rob Zombie fan. Also featuring voice work from Zombie regulars Brian Posehn, Ken Foree, Geoffrey Lewis, and cameos from Sid Haig and Bill Moseley in their House of 1000 Corpses/Devil's Rejects roles.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brain-damaging, but hilarious., September 24, 2009
After a great many years in conception and production, horror director/artist/metal legend/all-around bad mofo Rob Zombie hath finally bequeathed unto us his animated masterwork "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto". Was it worth the wait? Well, it's a mixed bag to say the least, but if I told you I didn't have a great time I'd be lying to you. What we have here is a twisted tale of stupidity that bombards you with cartoon breasts and behinds, potty humor, racial caricatures, homages and cameos from every corner of the entertainment universe, a truly bizarre comedic soundtrack that sounds like a collaboration between
Tenacious D and
Flight of the Conchords, and general Rob Zombie madness like you've never ever EVER seen before. Sound good? Hop onboard.
What's the story? Who cares? It's dumb. This film is about chaotic, childish glee. It begins with a classic black-and-white Universal move by giving us a friendly warning that what we are about to see may horrify us. He's not wrong, but the movie is far from scary in the traditional sense. It takes on an animation style similar to
Ren & Stimpy and utilizes devices and sound effects from all of the innocent classic cartoons we grew up watching. Then all the girls take off their clothes and use prehensile female anatomy in ways that make you embarrassed to be watching then you see your favorite horror characters and get all happy and then all the tailkicking starts and there's Nazi werewolves (Zombie really likes Nazis..and werewolves...and especially Nazi werewolves) and zombies and Nazi zombies and they have their own theme song and then there's more boobs and this transforming robot that's all horny for this awesome chick who steal Hitler's pickled head and Superbeasto is a luchador who shoves a cat down his pants so he has a bulge and there is Dr Satan who is really a nerd and has a talking gorilla with a screw in his head then all this stuff happens and it's crazy as fu.......[deep breath].....Yeah, so this flick gets a bit crazy at times.
So I think we've established that the humor in this one is decidedly lowbrow. Let's talk homages, references, and cameos. It's pretty much the biggest draw here unless you are one to pleasure yourself to cartoons (which is okay, as a song in the movie informs us, because Japanese people do it every day....nice). Plenty of horror icons ranging from Dr Phibes to the Bride of Frankenstein and The Fly as well as characters from Zombies' own films, but then there's references to everything from Benny Hill and Jerry Lewis to Charlie Chaplin (who Beasto mixes up with Hitler) and movies like
Taxi Driver and
Planet of the Apes. Other amusing cameos of note include Courtney Love, the Olsen Twins, and a featured role for Michael Myers.....as street pizza. This is an infinitesimal sampling. Honestly, aside from the sheer twisted insanity the massive unending pile of homages and cameos are what is going to keep your interest for the full hour and twenty. This has to be some kind of record. Eat it, Tarantino!
Voice cast. Awesome. Rosario Dawson lets fly some of the most staggeringly ignorant ebonics you've ever heard onscreen. Normally, I'm unimpressed by this cheap style of humor, but in this particular setting it did the trick for me. The Mexican caricatures, however, go down as a fail in spite of the marvelous man-god Danny Trejo lending his voice. Getting a real Mexican to play a caricature just doesn't sound funny, I guess. Tom Papa is pretty much The Man playing the title character. He has a really classic voice and delivers the lines with the perfect amount of sleaze and glee. Rob's wife Sheri Moon Zombie was born to be a voice actress. As cute as she is onscreen, when she's reduced to just a voice to an animated caricature her gigantic personality is just unbelievably charming. Again, big thumbs up for the cast.
Throw in some self-referential humor (including a song that plays during an homage scene stolen from a classic horror film that laments the cliche parody and asks if they got permission to do it) more cartoon boobs and ebonics slang, and even more cameos and references and that pretty much sums it up. The special features are a few minutes of extremely brief deleted scenes (one has Leatherface in it) and a very long set of unfinished alternate scenes. I'd have hoped for at least a commentary or making of after all the delays but whatever, Zombie. "The Haunted World of Superbeasto" is a great time if you're looking for a cartoon to keep as far away from your children/parents/grandparents/girlfriends as possible. You may not get away with all of your brain cells intact, but you'll probably leave with a smile. A stupid, stupid smile.
3 1/2 stars rounded up because I have a strong urge to watch this again. Soon.
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