After a slew of Winnie-the-Pooh and Mickey Mouse horror movies it was only a matter of time before low-budget filmmakers set their sights on making Betty Boop into a public domain slasher. Too bad they do next to nothing with the concept. In fact, you have to wonder if the filmmakers just took a pre-existing script and just slapped the character of Betty Boop in there just to cash in on her public domain status.
Three friends go to an old mansion to investigate an urban legend. Betty (Hannah Fierman), their strange host, gifts them a diary linked to the house’s shady past. Before they can even finish perusing the book, they wind up locked inside the spooky mansion. Eventually, they discover Betty has a serious axe to grind.
Betty’s Revenge is maligned almost from the get-go thanks to the aggressively annoying performances by the three leads. The scenes of them bickering, wandering around the mansion, and talking about the weather grinds everything to a halt even before the film has a chance to gather momentum. This is one slow-moving movie. It’s only seventy-four minutes long but it feels twice that length. Plus, the ending really sucks, and the last-minute flashback feels like it was only tacked on to further bloat the running time.
The most egregious parts are the long scenes of the Final Girl reading excerpts from Betty’s diary. They are a chore to sit through and seemingly go on forever. It’s almost like watching a movie version of Audible.
It also doesn’t help that the Betty character is underused. She basically just stands in the shadows and remains silent for most of the movie. You’d think Betty’s squeaky voice could be used to creepy effect, but the filmmakers don’t even try. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the body count is low and the gore is weak. (There are some eyeballs that get ripped out, but that’s about it.)
There is a clip from a public domain Betty Boop cartoon, but it’s almost tossed in there as an afterthought. In fact, the whole movie feels like it was made as an afterthought. Actually, I don’t think the filmmakers put any thought into this mess at all.
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