Spooky Bastard

Directed by Michael and Rafe Bird

2022

Bird Bros Productions

A horror comedy called Spooky B*stard has been released and directors Michael and Rafe Bird hope to take aim at the clichés and tropes of the fright genre in this new Nottingham-filmed short.

We open with a man (Rafe Bird as Jaime) waking in the middle of the night and rushing to his bedroom window to investigate an unfamiliar noise.

Heading downstairs he leaves his wife (Vicki Reckless as Helena) in her slumber and enters the couple’s garden, only to be locked out with a hooded figure creeping up behind him.

From the outset, the film plays with cinematic techniques and tropes prevalent in the horror genre. Not only does the aspect ratio switch throughout, but the comedy stems from the couple actually discussing what’s happening too. They give a running commentary in a semi-fourth wall breaking idea that works well.

With an acknowledgement that the couple have already faced Western and Science Fiction-themed evenings as well, Jamie quips that they again “just have to let this play out”.

The short continues with appropriate killer point-of-view shots, a cursed idol from a native American burial ground (“in Nottingham?” one character exclaims which made me laugh) and a jump-scare involving a cute bunny.

The horror genre is ripe for parody (see Scary Movie and Shaun of the Dead) and the film has echoes of those as well as finding its own angles on the same subject with nods to Scream, IT, Poltergeist and the killers from the Halloween & Friday 13^th franchises.

The scary score and horror genre elements are amusingly contrasted with the mundane domestic issues the couple undertake. Jamie slowly wanders around in his dressing gown and is more worried about the cost of BT fixing his cut telephone line. The two get annoyed rather than scared and a funny sequence involves the wife making a tea whilst the intruder attempts to attack Jamie in the background.

The brothers are clearly fans of horror and poke fun in all the right places without ever undermining the techniques filmmakers (overly) use in those types of films. Obligatory mirror shots and the assailant coming back for one last kill all play into their wry satire on the genre.

Comedy of course is subjective, so part of the audience’s enjoyment comes from knowing the clichés the brothers are poking fun at. A joke about diegetic music had me chuckling but I couldn’t help but think the overbearing score and jump-sounds – albeit part of the parody – could have been lower in the mix and that the opening was played straight before the pastiche began.

As the film winds up we get a switch of genres as Helena retrieves a Wild West pistol from the bedside drawer, which results in a few shots reminiscent of a spaghetti western. And the comedy continues to place their average life against the nasty events. Helena has frustration about being up late even when she has an interview in the morning, and a joke is delivered about the massive suburban houses in movies these attacks often take place in.

Spooky Bastard finishes as a comical success with lots of witty imitations of many aspects of Hollywood horror.  A final small suggestion would be a name change of the title to make the film more accessible – although when it’s said by a character in the film it makes sense, and has a hint of the Midlands regional dialect which I very much enjoyed.

A scary spoof with lots to recommend, this excellent suburban sendup subverts all the recognisable chestnuts with an added local vibe plus tons of tremendous horror humour.

★★★★

4/5

Michael Sales