'Bruce' a bad horror flick -- in a good way
The big problem with Bruce Campbell's new movie "My Name is Bruce" boils down to this: Is a deliberate, perfect duplicate of a bad horror comedy inherently any better than a regular, unintentionally bad horror comedy?
Yes, if you're a Bruce Campbell fanboy who lives for dumb, accidentally humorous horror tales.
No, if you're anyone else.
Clearly, "My Name is Bruce" is being targeted to the legions of Campbell fans who've come to love the square-jawed star of the cult "Evil Dead" thrillers as well as the TV series "Brisco County, Jr." and "Burn Notice."
Campbell directs and stars in "My Name is Bruce," which doesn't spoof cheesy, low-budget horror opuses so much as it recycles them.
The film possesses one intriguing concept: Campbell plays himself as a complete antithesis of his on-screen heroes. Here, he's a cranky, insensitive lout who abuses his fans, insults women and runs away in the face of danger.
Campbell's self-effacing, meta-movie role as Bruce Campbell is fearless and funny. He's a cult-film superstar of low-budget trash who lives in a trailer by himself and is generally despised by everyone in the business. (Witness the set's gofer who urinates in a beer bottle before giving it to the star.)
The plot kicks in when hormonally driven young people desecrate the graves of Chinese immigrant mine workers who died during a terrible cave-in while working in the small mining town of Gold Lick, Ore. They awaken a 9-foot Chinese god-of-war demon called Guan-Di, a blade-slashing entity with glowing eyes resembling a villain from a very expensive Ed Wood movie.
In short order, Guan-Di terrorizes the town and keeps the population figures plummeting like stocks. A teenager named Jeff (Taylor Sharpe), a true horror movie buff, knows how to save Gold Lick.
He hunts down the only man who can save them: the immortal demon-fighter Bruce Campbell. When Campbell dismisses the lad, all it takes is a baseball bat to the head and a ride in the trunk to get the superstar over to Gold Lick.
Campbell thinks the whole Guan-Di thing has been arranged as a joke by his agent (Ted Raimi) and goes along with the local townspeople. Campbell quickly sees another motive for staying: Jeff's single mom, the attractive Kelly (Grace Thorsen), a tough woman repulsed by Campbell's chauvinism but intrigued by his chin.
Or something like that.
"My Name is Bruce," written by Mark Verheiden, traffics in the usual stereotypes we expect in a bad horror film: the doltish locals, the glad-handing mayor, the sex-obsessed teens and the legions of Guan-Di fodder waiting to be slaughtered. We also have Ben and Butch McCain, who not only play the mayor and sheriff, they narrate the story as a singing duet, offering renditions such as "The Legend of Guan-Di."
As entertaining as Campbell can be playing a doofus self, he is almost eclipsed by the true star of this movie: Jeff's bedroom, outfitted with a treasure-trove of Campbellian memorabilia created especially for this film.
Jeff's endless array of posters, action figures, games and toys should easily tease and tantalize hard-core fans who will probably drool more over the merchandise than the delectable Kelly.
"My Name is Bruce"
Rating: 1½ stars
Facts: Starring: Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorsen, Ted Raimi and Danny Hicks
Directed by: Bruce Campbell
Other: An Image Entertainment release. At the Century Centre Cinema in Chicago. Rated R for language and violence. 86 minutes.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=253647">Cult star Campbell does double duty in horror comedy <span class="date">[11/28/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>