Much better movie than its reputation would have you think. When I first heard about this film, I was singularly unimpressed. I knew that it had suffered a disastrous opening week, and that it was consigned to the Bermuda Triangle of video stores out there, places where bad movies often disappear forever.
Then I watched it. Okay, there's no question that the Columbine Massacre and imagery thereof damaged the film's chances-- panicking teens at a school dance, the floral memorial for two murder victims being run-over. Utterly tasteless. Check. We all get it. As to when the film was released, it was a bad call on the part of marketing, but they likely had no choice but to go ahead and release it. The longer it sat in the can, the less chance it had of doing ANY business.
Today this movie deserves to be evaluated on its own merits, all these years later.
The film concerns the intrusion by the supernatural into the non-life of Anton Tobias, motivation-less, clueless, dope-smoking, TV-addicted, addle-pated teen. I'll admit to having had a heavy crush on former teen throb turned has-been Devon Sawa (I used to think he was really cute-looking, unlike now) but I personally think his acting in this was somewhat overblown. This is NOT to be seen as an attempt to lambaste him completely, since much of what he does actually works-- I laughed out loud as the hand throws him over the porch-railing of Molly's house and he jack knifes to his feet, as well as the battle-for-the-TV-remote (and if he didn't use springboards for the porch scene, Sawa must have been very athletic at this time in his life.) Anton seems to inhabit some bizarre alternative dimension, where stoning and slacking and television addiction are regarded as perfectly normal pursuits for a teenaged boy, as is walking down the street in his underwear and entering a friend's house via a basement window. Meanwhile, the kid's parents are completely uninterested in what "Our little Scooter" (as Mrs. Tobias calls him) is up to, presumably content for him to do nothing for the rest of his life.
In terms of humor, it is left to Seth Green and Elden Henson to really carry the film as Anton's understandably laid-back and later undead slacker friends Mick and Pnub, respectively, and due to the fact that they are such good actors, they do it easily. In fact, even critics who unreservedly hate this movie usually acknowledge their contribution to it as being head-and-shoulders above the rest. Even before their zombification, Mick seems to be the more easygoing of the pair while Pnub is delightfully snide-- the big guy (Henson is built like an icebox) even takes a sneering slap at the group Hanson, as the film was made when the three Okie boys with girl hair were still inexplicably popular.
Jessica Alba as the love interest was a very good choice for obvious reasons, and I was amused by her obliviousness to the fact that something is seriously wrong with Anton when he goes to her house.
Anton's truck-mechanic neighbor and buddy, Randy, is played by Jack Noseworthy, looking considerably more muscled-up than he did just two years earlier in his turn as Justin, the overly-enthusiastic engineer on the Lewis & Clark in the movie "Event Horizon." Noseworthy, a professionally trained actor who is well known for his work on the stage, has no trouble here, and has plenty of good lines-- my favorite exchange is when Anton pleads with Randy for information about the devil because Randy listens to "Devil Rock" and "You MUST have picked something up about the guy!" Randy, by now probably realizing that he's dealing with an idiot or a lunatic (or perhaps both,) reminds Anton that it's JUST MUSIC. If anything, Randy joins Mick and Pnub as the collective voices of reason, for all the good THAT does.
Vivica Fox is Debbie, the druidic priestess who has dedicated herself to finding and capping the demon, now made all the more urgent by the approach of a demonic sabbath of sorts. She is the spirit of tough-as-nails determination personified. Given her language and toughness, one wonders why she doesn't just go into the infernal regions and challenge His Infernal Majesty to a no-holds-barred wrestling match. I get the feeling that Hell would have a new sign replacing "All hope abandon, ye who enter here," and it would read "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT, MORONS!"
Let me add here that Anton's statement that the hand makes him do things he doesn't want to do is almost a verbatim repeat from the Night Gallery 2nd Season episode "The Hand of Borgus Weems."
What else is really good about this film? I'd say that the visuals are excellent-- the inside of the Tobias family's house, for example, looks weirdly paranormal and menacing from the start and with its dark woodwork, dark green walls and narrow spaces upstairs, imparts a feeling of claustrophobia-- perfect for a film in which a killer is on the loose in town and no one knows who he is (yet.) The photography outdoors, particularly in relation to the sky, looks desaturated at times, but this just emphasizes the action.
Personally, I liked the soundtrack, as well. One of my favorite funny scenes involves Anton awakening to the strains of BTK's "Peppyrock," throwing off his earphones in disgust, and putting on his Sony tape player, which begins blaring the exact same music. He smiles, satisfied.
I bought this on the strength of its negative reputation and was, as the cliché has it, pleasantly surprised. Expecting outright garbage, I stumbled on a horror comedy gem that I'll be watching many times. And remember, as Randy tells us, "Idle hands-- are the Devil's playground."