Club Dread

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Broken Lizard's Club Dread

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
Produced by Richard Perello
Written by Broken Lizard
Starring Bill Paxton
Kevin Heffernan
Brittany Daniel
Steve Lemme
Jordan Ladd
Jay Chandrasekhar
Paul Soter
Erik Stolhanske
Greg Cipes
M.C. Gainey
Music by Nathan Barr
Cinematography Lawrence Sher
Editing by Ryan Folsey
Studio Broken Lizard Industries
Cataland Films
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures (through 20th Century Fox)
Release dates
  • February 27, 2004 (2004-02-27)
Running time 103 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $8.55 million[2]
Box office $7,565,807 (Worldwide)[3]

Club Dread (also known as Broken Lizard's Club Dread) is a 2004 comedy horror film written by the comedy group Broken Lizard, who also created Super Troopers. It is directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, one of the group members.

Though the story is set on an island in Costa Rica, filming took place in Mexico.

Plot

On Coconut Pete's "Pleasure Island", staff members Rolo, Stacy, and Kelly sneak off to a mausoleum to make out. While there, a masked killer stabs Rolo to death. The two girls run through the jungle and eventually split up, but the killer throws Kelly of a cliff, and the killer decapitates Stacy before she can reach help. Hours earlier, Lars arrives at the island to start his job as the island's new masseur. He is introduced to the staff: Jenny, Juan, Putman, Dave, Sam, Yu, Carlos, Cliff, and Pete's bodyguard Hank. As the staff and guests party, Carlos is lured outside where he is swiftly murdered. Meanwhile, Dave tells the story of an insane man, "Machete Phil", who murdered the staff of the island and disappeared years previously. The next day, as the party continues, Cliff is violently murdered in a maze. As Jenny and Lars bond, they discover Carlos' body, while Cliff's body is also found. The staff band together where they find that the killer is targeting the staff, and also all communication and transportation off the island have been destroyed. Hank convinces the staff to continue with their jobs and allow him to catch the killer.

As the other workers get on with their jobs and attempt to help find the killer, Yu remains persistent to tell the guests, despite warnings not to do so from the killer. As she gathers people to make the announcement, she is attacked and chased by the killer. Hank attempts to save her, but has his throat slit before Yu is also murdered. The next day, the group find the bodies and believe the killer is murdering people according to one of Pete's songs. As they split up to try and identify the killer, suspicion falls on one of the guests, Penelope, who seduces Juan into her room. Jenny, Sam and Dave hide in the closet to save Juan if Penelope attempts to murder him but the pair instead have sex, taking suspicion off Penelope. While Lars and Putman camp on the beach, Putman has a nightmare and runs off into the jungle. Meanwhile, Sam and Dave find a shrine to Pete in Lars' room. Due to the shrine and disappearance of Putman, the group believe Lars to be the killer and lock him in a room. That night, Jenny goes swimming where she is interrupted by Dirk. The killer soon appears and electrocutes Dirk, causing the electricity on the island to fail. Jenny runs away, and bumps into Putman and Sam. They realize Lars is not the killer, but when entering the room he was locked in, find him gone.

The trio then go to Pete's house where they find Juan, Lars and Dave. When the group find Pete's body, the are quick to turn on one another, however group together to survive through the night until the boat comes the following day to take them back to the main land. Despite this plan, the group all decide to split up from each other. Dave ventures to a hut where he manages to turn on the electricity. Jenny and Lars hear the music playing and go to the hut, only to find Dave's decapitated head. Jenny and Lars then hide from who they believe to be the killer and handcuff their foot to a bed, however it is revealed it was Putman. Before long, the killer appears and a trapped Putman is killed. Meanwhile, a party is being held in the club. As Jenny and Lars arrive, the dead bodies of the staff are shown to the guests, causing them all to flee, except Penelope. Juan also arrives, before the group rush off to rescue Sam, whom they see at a nearby window. They arrive and find a presumed dead Sam in a mud bath, however he soon holds Lars hostage, revealing himself as the killer. Sam goes on to explain he began murdering the staff after Pete sold the island to Dave, despite the fact he believed he should have gotten the island, and the story of Machete Phil is a myth.

Lars manages to overcome Sam and allow the others to get away. As they run to the club, Penelope is carried away by other partiers, while Jenny and Juan lock themselves in the club. Soon after, the pair find Sam drowning Penelope in a large tank. Juan manages to smash the tank, saving Penelope. As Sam is about to kill the group, Lars arrives and stabs Sam, allowing himself, Jenny, Penelope and Juan to escape. However as they are leaving, they discover Sam following them. The group runs through the jungle, and comes to a cliff which they jump off to escape. They find one of the islands sunk boats, and decide to take the propeller off it and attach it to another boat that had lost its propeller. As Jenny, Lars and Penelope swim to the boat, Juan retrieves the propeller off the sunk boat. As Juan arrives with the propeller, Lars begins to attach it. However it is revealed Juan has been stabbed and soon dies, before Sam attacks Jenny and Penelope. Lars comes to their rescue and together the group finally manage to defeat Sam, cutting him in half. The upper half tries to attack Penelope, but Lars throws it back into the sea. As Jenny and Lars start a relationship, Penelope drives the survivors away in the boat.

Cast

Soundtrack

On one of the disc's commentary tracks the filmmakers state that they screened the film for Jimmy Buffett, who was so amused that he requested permission to sing some of the film's songs on one of his live tours.

Critical reception

Club Dread has received mixed reviews, scoring 45% on review aggregator site Metacritic based on 28 critics reviews, and 29% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 96 reviews. According to Rotten Tomatoes the consensus was "Comedy is too hit-or-miss in this slasher spoof".

Alternate version

In 2005, an unrated edition was released to DVD. This version of the film contains an additional 15 minutes of footage for a 118-minute running time. It features several extended scenes, and also restores a subplot involving two cops (played by Paco Mauri and Tony Amendola) that was absent in the theatrical edition. Director Jay Chandrasekhar states in one of the disc's commentary tracks that the original R-rated version is still the director's cut.

References

  1. ↑ "BROKEN LIZARD'S CLUB DREAD (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2004-03-03. Retrieved 2012-12-19. 
  2. ↑ "Club Dread (2004) - Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Amazon.com. 2005-01-01. Retrieved 2012-12-19. 
  3. ↑ Club Dread at Box Office Mojo

External links

Films
Members
Films directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
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