Wednesday, November 10, 2021

THE 31 MOVIES OF HORROR-WEEN: MOVIE #10: CAROUSHELL (2016) ***


(Streamed via Crackle)

We’ve all been at a point at our job when we just want to break free, walk out, and never look back.  The main character of Caroushell, Duke has the same problem.  The fact that he’s a killer carousel horse is beside the point.  

An internet influencer’s world is shattered when her stripper mother informs her she must babysit her bratty little brother.  She takes the kid to the local amusement park, and he happens to sit on Duke.  After he tells the wooden horse to “eat a dick”, Duke decides he’s finally had enough and leaves the carousel once and for all.  He then goes around the park killing those who’ve wronged him, eventually setting his sights on the little brat and his sexy sister.  

If you can’t tell, Caroushell is a dumb movie, but it’s my kind of dumb.  It’s also almost always a little bit better than you expect.  For example, I kind of expected Duke to stab people in the throat with its horn.  I kind of expected him to say amusement park-related wisecracks after he killed someone like, “You must be this tall… to DIE!”  I didn’t, however, foresee him using a machete and making an homage to Friday the 13th Part 6:  Jason Lives.  

Yes, it’s dumb, but it also contains a handful of hearty and genuine laughs.  While not all of it works, you have to tip your hat to the filmmakers for stretching out such a thin premise in an entertaining way.  Heck, the movie even knows when it’s running out of ideas and comments on it as well.  You’ve got to respect that.

Another plus is that it’s only sixty-six minutes long, which is probably the ideal length for a movie about a wisecracking sentient serial killer carousel horse.  In fact, it’s still probably a tad overlong as it starts to run out of steam before it reaches its climax.  That said, where else are you going to see a drunk partygoer seducing a carousel horse?  Although it’s not quite up there with the killer snowman rape scene from Jack Frost, this sequence is still a winner in my book.  

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