When you think of writer , producer , musician and director Rob Zombie you don't usually think of comic book movies. Instead you think of bottom of the barrel horror movies with him only making a very few select handful of good horror movies throughout the years and yet in 2009 he went and gave us not only his first ever animated movie but also his first ever comic book movie that whilst it's not as good as The Spine Of Night or even Mad God for that matter is still a pretty decent adult animated comedy and so then join me as I review the film that could technically be considered apart of the same world as House Of 1000 Corpses , The Devil's Rejects and 3 From Hell with the film in question being called simply just "The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when an exotic dancer is kidnapped by a gorilla and is forced into marrying his boss it's up Superbeasto and his sister to rescue her before he takes over the world. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that' actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad however tho this films plot really isn't all that good as outside of that basic premise the film really does have next to nothing going for it when it comes to it's plot with it seeming like that the characters are just doing things for random reasons alot of the time but to be fair to this film tho this is the kind of film that really doesn't require much of a plot to being with as the film lets you know right away what kind of a film that your in for and therefor you can just leave your brain at the door because of it with this movies plot being dumb but enjoyably dumb like the makers of this film knew fully well just what kind of film that they were making and so they just went all out with just how dumb that this films plot could be and that is something that does work really well for his film as this is a film that really doesn't need a deep and though provoking plot in order for it to work as it just needs the bare bones of a plot and that's really and to be fair that's exactly what this films plot really is and while yes it would have been nice if this film did have much a more stronger plot to it it's not something that's not only not needed it's also something that really hasn't been Rob Zombie's strongest suit either with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is this films co-writer Tom Papa as El Superbeasto and Sheri Moon Zombie as Suzi-X. Also starring in this film is Paul Giamatti as Dr. Satan / Steve Wachowski , Rosario Dawson as Velvet Von Black , Tom Kenny as Otto , Rover , Old Man and Herbie , Brian Posehn as Murray The Robot , Dee Wallace as Trixie , Ken Foree as Luke St. Luke , Geoffrey Lewis as Lenny Crumpski and Roy Sullivan , Lew Temple as Adam Banjo , Rob Paulsen as Michael , Bobby Hyde , Commandant Hess , El Gato , Grossburger and Creature Preacher , Daniel Roebuck as Morris Green , Danny Trejo as Boss Rico , Cassandra Peterson as Amber , Debra Wilson as Cigarette Girl , Bride Frankenstein , Female Patron , Stripper in Hall , Telephone Victim and Old Woman , Clint Howard as Joe Cthulhu , Kevin Michael Richardson as Santa Baby , April Winchell as Dame Grace Appleton , Liza , Babs , Dolly , Joan , Gloria , Scripty and Helga Strudel , John DiMaggio as Burt The Spurt , Laraine Newman as Lefty , Kate , Courtney , Smelga Strudel and Betty Sue Lou , Jess Harnell as Soundy , Cameraman , Astronaut , Willey The Worm and Uncle Carl , Charlie Adler as Krongar , Mooney McMoon and Albino Singer , Joe Alaskey as Van Sloan , Jack and Erik The Newscaster , Harland Williams as Gerard The Exterminator , Carlos Alazraqui as Bennie Rodriguez , Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding , Bill Moseley as Otis Driftwood and Tura Satana as Varla.
Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With this films shockingly turning in some really good performances in this film something which both is and isn't all that surprising it is surprising in the sense that alot of the regular Rob Zombie actors especially his wife are in this movie and there all actually decent in this film and it's not all that shocking in the sense that alot of this films actors are a bunch of a really good actors in their own right with even three maybe even four of them reprising theirs roles not only from other movies but from other Rob Zombie movies as well with even Sheri Moon Zombie who at best is just OK in other films here is actually quite decent and while she's not a good voice actor by any stretch of the imagination the fact that she is willing to try it out and she still manages to turn in a good performance is something that makes her performance in this film really fun to watch as it's clear as day that she's having a blast starring in this film with the films best actor being Rosario Dawson as she just has all of these fun lines to say and she makes them count by giving us a performance that is quite easily the best one in the whole film just due to the fact that she's quite clearly having a fun time in making this film with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by this films script as the script for this film is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the animation for this films is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Carbunkle Cartoons and Big Star Enterprise. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as while this is still a direct to DVD movie the films animation actually looks to be really good with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film did put alot of thought and effort into the animation of this films this is despite the fact that this film still does look cheap as there are only a handful of main sets and only a handful of characters used in the film and while the film does hide it's cheapness really well it is something that you can't help but notice alot of the time and yet at the same time tho this films animation does look a lot more better then alot of the animated films that came out from around that same time period while granted this film doesn't look as good a PIXAR or a Disney film it does look alot more better then the animated films that Dreamworks were putting out from around this time period as this film isn't afraid to have these more zany moments in it's animation and yet also i've the characters these really nice fluid movements to them which was something that they really didn't have to do and yet the fact that they did do it does show that the makers of this film wanted to give this film some really high quality animation and while the films backgrounds look pretty generic they do still have alot of detail in them with the fact that this was also a treaitional 2D hand drawn animated film also being something to praise whenever it's seen as you just don't get to see these types of animated films anymore.
As was stated at the start of this review this film could very well take in the world of House Of 1000 Corpses and it's two sequels. AS not only does Captain Spaulding , Baby and Otis all make appearances in this film with even both Otis and Captain Spaulding getting lines of dialog in the film but so does the character of Dr. Satan a character that was first mentioned in House Of 1000 Corpses which does make it seem like that this film is firmly connected to that film but in saying that tho given the fact that this films has a lot of cameos from other horror characters it could just be that Rob Zombie was merely including the Firefly Family because he had the rights to them as for Dr. Satan being a character in both this film and House Of 1000 Corpses it very well could be a very different take on the character but it is kind of fun to think that these two films that do seem to be disconnected films could be set in the same world as it's just two much of a coincidence that three technically four characters from one film would then show up in another film by the same director but what was odd was that even tho the actor for Baby is in this film they don't have Sheri Moon Zombie reprise her role with the character instead being left silent all throughout the film which just seems weird as half the fun with those three characters is seeing them interact with each other and it would have been fun to see Baby talk with either Susie-X or Velvet just because you could have the Baby character have talks with anyone and nine times out of ten you'd get gold from it or heck even having the three of them having a chat with this films take on Dr. Satan would have been a pretty funny thing to see and would have been a much more better use of the characters then what we ultimately got with them in the finished cut of the film.
Whilst this film isn't a musical film by any means it does have songs by the comedy band Hard 'n Phirm. With alot of the films songs being pretty bad to be frank as all they are are songs that are just commenting on what's being shown to us on screen which does have the adverse effect of making all of this films songs sound very similar to one another that's not to say that there not all sung really well as they are it's just that there's not much a verity in the types of songs that we get in this film and with there not even being a tracklist for this film out here that does make it hard to name all of the films songs as well with perhaps the films best song being the one that plays when Susie-X and Murray and being chased by Naz* Zombies and the song takes on this kind of Scooby-Doo chase song vibe where instead of it just being a generic pop song that plays over the scene it's instead just commenting on however the top the action in the scene which is perfect for that type of the scene but then you get to the scene with the Zombies looking at Susie-X and Murray from over a wall and the same type of song plays again and that's when you realise that that's all this films songs are with there being nothing new added to them even during the intro song for Susie-X could have been alot more better as the visuals hint at it being kind of a James Bond spoof and yet the song doesn't match those visuals at all where as if the makers of the film went all in on spoofing James Bond for that scene including having a James Bond-esqe title song then it would have made that scene all the more better then what it already is and it would have given us some verity in the types of songs that we get in this film.
Whereas other adult animated films like both Mad God and The Spine Of Night of alot more mature in there themes and characters. This film feels like that it was never going to be that kind of adult animated film as it's one just has alot of blood and other mature aspects to it and that's really it and while that's fine for the comic book that this film is based off of as there you have alot of other adult comic books also doing the exact same thing when the book was being adapted to the film then there should have been more of an effort to make this film have more mature themes as audiences to expect more from adult animated films then what they do an adult comic book but given that this was Rob Zombie's first and to date only comic book movie it could be forgiven that he would want to stick to the book as closely as possible as he did also write the original book but this is something that does excuse the fact that this films villain Dr. Satan doesn't really get alot of chances to show us the audience why we should be scared of him as he spends alot of the time in telling bad jokes that oddly make the film feel more childish then it does adult with this having the adverse affect of making the character seem both less scary and less threatening as well as we're not given alot of time with him being threatening and heck we don't even get to see him interact with both Superbeasto and Susie-X before the films third act when it would have made him more of a creepy villain if we got to see him terrorize the duo before the films third act as that then would make us the audience feel more scared for those characters because of the fact that we've had the chance to see him be threatening.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and seventeen minuets and thirty two seconds. Which to be fait to this film is pretty much the exact grand total running time that you'd expect a film like this one to have with the film even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time as this is a film that doesn't really require a long running time in order to tell it's plot as the film is short on plot to begin with but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely either as the film doesn't really take the time that it really does need to fully develop it's plot as it's plot does feel like that it's very all over the place with the films plot being so underdeveloped that it does at times make it hard to tell just what the main plot of the film is even meant to be with even the films characters not being that well developed as none of this films characters have anything about them personality wise that make them not only likeable but also feel separate from one another as any of this films characters could be swapped around and nothing would be changed plot wise as that's how little that the films characters are developed with even the familial bond between Susie-X and Superbeasto not even being developed either this is despite the fact that it forms a vital part of who those characters are as people and yet it feels like that was tacked on at the last minuet when it's something that should have gotten alot more development and attention then what it ultimately ended up getting in the first place but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the films comedy being alot more better then what you'd expect from a film by Rob Zombie and yet at the same time tho the films comedy can be seen as being quite childish despite the fact that it's an adult film as alot of this films jokes are just badly done adult jokes that would feel more at home in a bad episode of South Park then they would in a feature length film but with that being said tho when this film does decide to tell a good joke it really can be a solid joke lie for the example the best joke in the film which is when Superbeasto is trying to find Velvet he goes to a Mexican neighborhood to reconnect with some old friends only since he hasn't seen them in a while they no longer trust him and so in order to proof that he is still one of them all he has to do is win a game of Twister and that's it which is such a simple premise for a joke and yet it's one that oddly works in this films favor as the film i just about dumb enough to make the joke the work with these kinds of jokes being where the film shines best as it allows the characters to be there dumb selves with that being more then enough to make those kinds of jokes work but where this film does fall flat from a comedy point of view is when it forces cameos from other horror characters down your throat as all that does is remind you that could be watching a much more better film but when this film tells a good joke it is something that really does work in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this isn't the worst film that Rob Zombie has ever made as that honor very easily goes to The Munsters it's also not his best work either as it's a film that's at best OK which for a Rob Zombie film does make this film out to be a masterpiece but it is something that really makes you wonder why he didn't make more animated films as he really clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to making animated films in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the im ages that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all pf the i ages that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . UK , Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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