I Watch Films: Funnyman

Funnyman

A record producer wins a mansion from Christopher Lee at poker. He makes a joke and Lee tells him he’s a funny man, but he knows a funnier.

Arriving at the mansion with his family, it’s weird and has strange themed rooms. In the games room the producer spins a wheel of fortune, gets a lose and a jester appears and starts to chase and murder everyone in variously outrageous ways.

Just as he’s finished off the wife, son and daughter, the producer’s brother shows up with his van and the gear he's carrying for the family. He’s picked up a bunch of hitchhikers; a black American woman with a huge afro and a purple jumpsuit who immediately detects magic, Velma from Scooby Doo, a butch sexist British bloke and a right-on hippy nerd. Each of them is then tricked by the jester in variously more-or-less appropriate and more-or-less amusing ways; all end up with a violent death.

Is this funny? Some of the set pieces are amusing. The jester takes most things in his stride but occasionally finds himself the target and has to accept that. The ending is at best confused and mostly pointless, leaving us with a lot of horrible deaths that mean little.

Watch This: For a gory, bloody horror film with some good and entertaining set pieces
Don’t Watch This: If you want the humour or gore to make any sense or have a point