If youre a horror fan you may have been intrigued by the recent filmA Cure For Wellness.
This from the director most famously known for thePirates Of The Caribbeanfilms, or more recentlyRangoandThe Lone Ranger.
The casting would suggest this also.
Nathan Lane was coming off the back of his biggest role to date, inThe Birdcage.
They would later go on to reignite their double act inThe Producerson the West End.
Surely a guilty pleasure for any grown adult?
This takes us back to our expectations from the film.
The films tone is odd to say the very least, and for that reason should not be disregarded.
It all begins, quirkily enough, with a quote about string.
It reads A world without string is chaos.
in the pouring rain.
On the steps of the church are a line of people under black umbrellas.
We soon see we are witnessing a funeral as pallbearers emerge from the church carrying a coffin.
It dives straight down an open manhole that workers are sitting next to having their sandwiches.
Yes its ridiculous, yes its slapstick, but also its humour is as black as tar.
Any nice moment inMousehuntis quickly undercut, no matter who is experiencing a moment of peace or clarity.
And if its not black humour the film delights in, it instead goes in an offbeat direction.
Exemplified in the cameo from Christopher Walken.
He turns up as a damaged Vietnam veteran, who now takes pleasure in exterminating household pests.
It could be the wackiest that Walken has ever been, and thats quite an achievement.
As he lies there, the mouse crawls over his face, laying a poo on his lips.
Alongside the humour, the tone of the film is almost relentlessly dark and depressing.
It also heaps a whole lot of depressing situations onto the lead characters.
Especially as theyre beaten black and blue by a tiny little mouse for most of the film.
Something that doesnt seem to work out, and the pay their penance with haunting by a super mouse.
For all the reasons above I view the film as a pleasure.
In fact I cant think of many films Id actually feel guilty for watching?
(Is a guilty pleasure really a thing?)
Its a real treat…
