The Comedy Horror sub-genre is thriving and has made its mark on horror history, but the most recent films I’ve seen that tried to straddle the wide space between those two elements have come up short; if the film is funny, like the recent ‘Werewolves Within,’ which is indeed humorous, then it isn’t the least bit scary. And some, like the current ‘Ankle Biters,’ have some good gore and suspense, but the comedy falls flat as Frankenstein’s head. I’m just not a satisfied customer of the category.
Ankle Biters, a Canadian flick that was originally titled ‘Cherry Picker,’ has a great premise and some good moments, but you’ll have to wait until almost half way through its 90 minute run time before it starts to get to the good stuff.
Zion Forrest Lee plays hockey player Sean Chase, who in the opening moments of the film pulls an eye out of an opposing player (which we see rolling on the ice) and hurts his own neck in the process, thereby gaining retired status rather quickly.
Sean seems like an okay guy, he and his hot fiancée, Laura (Marianthi Evans) have super sexual sparks between them, and even record themselves having a rough encounter, involving taped hands and screams. If you guess that people taking photos and videos of themselves will come back later the narrative, congratulations, you have seen a movie before.
Laura has 4 daughters, all grade school age and younger who stumble upon the aforementioned video, and it sure likes their poor mom is being hurt by Sean, if one doesn’t know the context. While they’re barely old enough read and write, they have an evil streak that will lead them to play a kind of Home Alone from Hell. They are determined to stop Sean from becoming their new stepdad.
They sabotage him with everything from needles inside of apples, to something waaaaay darker, which I will not spoil, as there are only a few things interesting enough to save from spoiling.
Yeah, so at about the 45 minute mark, you can feel the film shifting from its “comedy” side and into its horror bits, which amp up the energy and draw you in for the second half. There are also some good, bloody elements that are done pretty well. Still, this will require a suspension of disbelief (I’m always down to suspend) as the four girls barely even register onscreen- they’re not funny, they’re not scary, they’re not cute (I’m sorry to say this out loud, I have 4 daughters myself).
It’s not a total loss for the viewer, but there are some good hooks that a better film could’ve hung a narrative upon and really done it right, and that’s frustrating.
Ankle Biters is available on streaming platforms | Not rated | 2 out of 4 stars
P.S. My buddy Dustin Putman wrote the book on horror, it’s called The Fright File and it has more than 150 reviews and a lot of insight. I asked him to give me some examples of Comedy/Horror that he felt really worked. His answer: “There are definitely successful ones that work as both horror and comedy, like Evil Dead 2, The Cabin in the Woods, Dead Alive, An American Werewolf in London, Creepshow, Gremlins, The Final Girls, Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus, Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2 U, and Freaky.”