Suburban Gothic (2015)

People are voting emotionally.

Good concept, poorly executed.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I love the understatement of the whole thing. It's almost as if the writers are turning Goth on its head. The suburban banality is what keeps you hooked in. The deadpan irony and the gags are terrific, the dialogue is laugh-a-minute, thanks to awesome writing and marvellous delivery from the actors. Sound track is great, the set-ups are fun. It's absolutely my sort of movie. I love the comedy of it. There's enough drama to carry the story apart from the Gothic element and the characters are believable. I like the pacing. It's also clever because it deals with a very contemporary issue of unemployed youngsters not leaving home, but in an original way. I'd love to know what premise the writers started with. The oxymoron of Suburban Gothic is the key to it. I mean, no crypts? No black eyeliner? And we get jump scares too.

I first saw Excision, and was kind of intrigued by it, so I checked out Bates Jr newest movie, which is this one, Suburban Gothic.Now, this is a pretty strange movie. It seems like it can't quite decide what it is. It has quite a lot of weird comedy, or at least I think it is supposed to be funny, it didn't really hit home for me. The comedic timing seems way off a lot of the time, with a lot of wasted potential. Maybe I just didn't get it. But this is not just a comedy, it is a horror comedy. Horror comedies are my favorite genre, nothing beats horror comedy if done right. Anyway, some of the scary scenes in this movie are actually quite creepy. But I think they drown in the weirdness of the rest of the movie. We get a tiny bit of Jeffrey Combs, that's always nice, also a small cameo from John Waters. The father is kind of cool, and the main guy is weird, but OK.To sum up: kooky movie, weird humor which I didn't really find very funny (let it be said: I'm a tough crowd, laughter wise), some creepy scenes, very simple story. OK.

It's called Suburban Gothic for a reason. There may not seem to be a real goal or something this movie is heading towards (none the main character can see at least), but the ride we take with it, is so much fun, that you might not care. Ray Wise is exceptional as the bad father figure, setting the tone early on. But in a very funny way, so that you can't really be mad at him.Humor is something that is hard to grasp or be sure about. Like obviously this is awkward and weird in a way, that will either entice the viewer or appall them. Kat Dennings seem to be shoe-in for the role she's playing, because we've seen her play similar characters before. Without knowing her you could be fooled into thinking that it's very close to who she really is. But no matter if that is true or not, this movie thrives on her and every other actor, who play their role exceptionally

I went to see Excision, Richard Bates Jr.'s debut, knowing almost nothing about it. All I had read was a 5-star Empire review. I'm so glad I trusted said review: Excision is a funny, original, sometimes horrifying, and also disturbing film. I'll never forget its ending (a true rarity: a profoundly sad ending in a horror movie). And it made me very excited about future films from writer and director Bates.Well, to put it mildly, Suburban Gothic is a disappointment. The goal here is obviously to pay homage to John Waters' trash/filthy/defying humor (no wonder Waters himself shows up in one of the best scenes of the film), but the result seems more like not-really-inspired Waters (Cry-Baby, Pecker) than excellent Waters (Polyester, Pink Flamingos). Close-up shots of feces, vomit, and sperm add nothing to the story - and unfortunately most of the humor of the film doesn't go much higher than this.But it'd be unfair to classify Suburban Gothic as just scatological humor. There are some truly funny scenes, Matthew Gray Gubler is charming as the protagonist, and he makes a good team with Kat Dennings. (The cast is the best thing about the film, including Leland Palmer himself, Ray Wise, and Barbara Niven as the parents) But the story is so generic I couldn't believe it came from the same man who wrote Excision. There's not a single scary moment - which wouldn't be a problem if the film was a riot, like Shaun of the Dead. Unfortunately (for me), I wasn't laughing nearly as much as the girl behind me, who was almost dying of laughter every time Gubler gave a high-pitched scream - and he does it a lot. I guess I'll have to wait for the next film from Bates. Or watch Excision again.