Sharknado & Hell Baby

Yeah we did it, we watched it, we caved in to the mega sensation: Sharknado! What a piece of shit. And I mean that in a sincerely fun way but also in an atrocious filmmaking way. I mean, a good "bad" horror film is always enjoyable on some level. Films like Piranha 3D, Jeepers Creepers, I Know What You Did Last Summer or the next to be reviewed Hell Baby are often good fun but they need to be well made. Little things like colour correcting between shots or even using shots filmed at the same time of day! Things like not using obvious stock shots of huge waves and then cutting back to a calm beach before cutting to a head of shot of someone who is obviously supposed to be surfing, then cutting back to him on a different beach at sunset. I mean WTF? How can a director actually do that ... it’s beyond me.

But, on a much more positive note, the idea is fantastic! And as stupid as much of it is and completely unbelievable (How do sharks survive out of water for so long, how does a grenade stop a tornado, how can a helicopter fly so close to a tornado, how long can someone survive inside a shark?!?!) it certainly is a conversation starter. I don’t know .. I guess go see it just so you can say you have seen it, but unless you want to cave in to the hype it’s really nothing special. I was expecting some more cheesy fun, or at least some more gags or jokes or puns, but it really wasn’t clever and it certainly wasn’t made well. But it is called: SHARKNADO!

After watching this, Holmsey, Razza and I chucked on another terrible looking horror called Hell Baby. Oh, the comparison! I don’t know if it was just the timing of following up Sharknado with this, or if it truly was as funny as we found it to be, but goddamn, it’s hilarious! I have to give it the award for most perfectly timed joke in the last decade. I fell for it hook line and sinker and almost fell of the couch with how perfect it was. I can clearly imagine many groups of teenage boys munching on cereal late at night watching that part of the movie and pretty much dying of laughter, it’s awesome.

The movie plot is pretty tongue in cheek. A pregnant lady and her man decide to buy a cheap huge manor house in New Orleans and move in. When they move in the token black guy who lives on the street also shows up (who is bloody funny) and tells them the house is home to demons and many people have died there. Cue best joke of the decade and then follow these guys on their journey of surviving the silly and scary events to the birth of the evil baby. Things get a bit gross out comedy there which I suppose was to be expected but this film had a refreshingly fun and self-aware silly vibe that is hard to nail. Definitely worth checking out!

Sharknado Score: 1/10
Hell Baby Score: 8/10

IMDB Info for Sharknado
IMDB Info for Hell Baby