The Horror Show
Chubbies
by Mike C. Hartman
Comedy and horror go together like blades and evisceration. Although the squares of the world will never get it, blood, guts, and laughter are perfect ingredients for a great time. Movies are, after all, about entertainment; if you get to watch someone's head explode and hear some funny dialogue, it's hard to get much better than that. This is one of the many reasons I support indie horror flicks so much; when they're good, they are about as much fun as you can have.
Chubbies is part of this tradition, surrounding itself with gross-out splatter and shameless humor. And, in the end, I loved just about every minute of it. Chubbies begins on the fictitious planet Snerd, where sex is not only outlawed but, thanks to Snerdian technology, impossible. It is here that we meet our hero Cass Coridore (Brian Papandrea). Cass is a space lawyer who is in the process of defending the “Chubbies” a breed of little creatures from another planet that are all about reproduction.
I won't give away too much of this part, but it all leads to the Chubbies escaping to Earth where Cass Coridore has been tasked with tracking them down and destroying them. Relations with Snerd and Earth are pretty good and the Chubbies are quite a danger to the population. You see, Chubbies reproduce by invading the bodies of others. They are also horrible little creatures who will kill at will without any regard to their victim. Think of them as a sexual version of Gremlins or Ghoulies.
It is here that we enter the primary setup on Earth. We are first shown a credits montage of a bowling alley. At first, this concerned me for purely biased reasons. Ryan Nicholson's film Gutterballs is one of my favorite films and I was worried that Chubbies was delving into sacred territory. This similarity eventually wound up being forgivable as it turned out Chubbies was a film entirely its own.
The Snerd characters are hilariously over-the-top and the set decorations are so wonderfully cheesy that I found myself pretty invested in keeping my eyes on the screen right from the start. The Earth characters are more-or-less average but everyone did a great job with their respective roles and I didn't find myself the least bit annoyed with them as I am of 90% of teenage characters in slasher movies (or real life). The character played by writer/director Mike C. Hartman is among the best. Mr. Hartman plays Mr. Moody, the bowling alley's owner. The film takes place on Halloween, and while the teens are getting set up for a Halloween party at the alley, Mr. Moody has fun tormenting the local trick-or-treaters in the area. These scenes are especially fun.
The bowling alley is set to lock down at midnight and, of course, being locked in a confined area with a bunch of horny, homicidal little monsters isn't exactly the best situation for our heroes to be in. And that is where the excitement unfolds. The film clearly takes place in the 80's and, in actuality, it does look like a film that was made in that era. Which is great because, as we all know, the only good thing about the 80's were the phenomenal horror films that came out of the decade.
Chubbies is the kind of film that just goes for it and doesn't attempt to soften its impact whatsoever. It's disgusting, vile, gross, immature, and absolutely wonderful. Everyone is clearly having a great time with their involvement and it shows, leading to a whole bunch of entertainment. A lot of effort is put forth to add weird, oddball glee to each little element. The Chubbies themselves don't have a ton of screen time, but what they do have is well worth it.
Chubbies is clearly a low-budget film, but it’s the type that actually excels because of this fact. The writing is clever and truly funny, and the cheapness just adds to the fun. There is even a cameo by personal hero Lloyd Kaufman as Ronald Reagan, which is an absolutely hilarious scene in my humble opinion.
So, if you wanna take it easy and watch a movie for the primary objective of having a great time, I would absolutely recommend Chubbies. Not everyone will admit they love it, but how could they not?
P.J. Griffin, HMS
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