A bunch of knuckleheads led by Father O’Sullivan (Tim Sullivan) are heading down to Mexico for an archeological fieldtrip. Along the way, the bus stops off to pick up single mom Tessie and her son Ivan (the terrible) who are also along for the ride. This makes things just a bit awkward as she and Father O’Sullivan had an affair years ago and she was forced to leave the convent. All of these fools get about 4 seconds into their journey into Mexico when they are besieged by the evil Dr. Um-tzec (Somtow Sucharitkul) and his gang of undead Aztec warriors who want to possess the priest and sacrifice Ivan. If the baddies are successful, that would be kinda bad, as in “end of the world” bad.
Science fiction and horror author turned director Somtow Sucharitkul kicks the viewer right into the deep end of his batshit crazy vision with The Laughing Dead (1989). Some people think “less is more”, but I suspect that Sucharitkul believes that “more is all”. Watching this frickin’ movie is like sitting on an overstuffed couch of fireworks and Jell-O that is perched on the back of a galloping dinosaur during a hurricane of comets.
As if this film wasn’t going to be strange enough on its own, the director loaded up the cast with some of his fellow science fiction writers (as well as himself as the main villain) working alongside professional actors. So yeah, the acting styles on display are all over the place. My favorite characters from this film are the new age couple who don’t do anything without their crystals. The husband in this far out duo is played by someone named Larry Kagen, who bears more than a striking resemblance to Larry Coven of Hack-O-Lantern (1988). Psst. Hey. Psst! It’s the same guy.
I used to mix this film up with The Video Dead. Well, I’ll certainly never do that again! One thing that The Laughing Dead does at expert level is ride the line between intentionally and unintentionally funny. Throw in the wildly pretentious bits and I really can’t tell if any of this was meant to be taken seriously or not. Maybe if all the jokes were bad that would make it much easier for me to judge here, but this has some legit funny moments buried in there. And just now, while I’m writing this out, I realize that I’m thinking way too hard about it.
The Laughing Dead is what happens when a big imagination meets even bigger ambitions but also meets a truly unique sense of humor down a dark and twisted alley out back behind the arthouse cinema. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen anything quite like it. This is quite a baffling little jewel full of bizarre characters, wild gore sequences, outlandish visuals, and surprisingly important basketball scenes. More people need to set their eyes ablaze with this film. Like right away.
As usual, Vinegar Syndrome gives a weird film their full attention and their tireless efforts really pay off. Their Blu-ray of The Laughing Dead is the result of a 4K scan of the original negative and it looks and sounds incredible. There’s a commentary track with director Sucharitkul but it’s the making of documentary with him and some members of the cast and crew that really shines. The story of this film’s unusual production is almost as strange as the film itself.