THE HOARD
Review by:
While making a pilot called ‘Extremely Haunted Holders’ the team discover a lot more than they bargained for…
There any number of shows on TV that involve teams of experts renovating homes, or giving homes. I suppose it was always inevitable someone would make a spoof about them. What was perhaps surprising was the they would add a horror spin to it.
I don’t watch these shows, but I have to say, I thought the writers Tony Burgess (who wrote the brilliant Pontypool a few years ago), Jesse Thomas Cook and Matt Wiele did a brilliant job of capturing the those shows very well indeed, creating some terrific characters and creating some genuinely funny moments.
Where I didn’t feel the film worked quite as well was in the horror aspect of the story. Fro me that side was a bit of a let down. Getting the balance of a horror comedy film is hard to get right and The Hoard doesn’t quite. Funny yes, horror, not so much.
The cast are terrific, Lisa Solberg, Tony Burgess, Ry Barrett, Elma Begovic, Marcus Ludlow and Justin Darmanin are all really good in the film, their interactions are first rate. They really get to grips with their characters and with the good script, bring out its humour.
The film is co-directed by Cook and Wiele and again it’s done well. They brilliantly capture the way theses types of programmes edit and have their experts talk to camera. They stage the comedic scenes well, agina helping draw out the humour, but while there are a couple of good moments of horror, it’s not as creepy or scary as you really want. Of course, I could be misreading the films intent, in which case, apologies to the writers and directors, but for me as a horror/comedy it doesn’t fully work.
It’s not a bad film and certainly those that know the type of shows they are spoofing will get a kick out of it. Despite my issues with it, I can’t deny I did find it great fun.
Flawed, but enjoyable.
Rating: *** out of 5
