I told you it was not over yet. These are the films that for one reason or another, I didn’t see in time or in this case, I didn’t think about reviewing them. Now, this might seem unfair to this movie as this one won the Fantasia 2018 Gold Audience Award for action films. I’m going to try to explain why that’s both fair and unfair, being that this is not a live action film but an animation one.
I guess I will start by apologizing to director Mike Mort. I did watch his film Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires with a Fantasia audience, which is literally the best (and only) way to watch it. I should have also included it in my reviews. My main problem was that as funny as the jokes are, I often thought the comedic timing was off. The movie often fires off three jokes in tandem. The audience is usually still laughing at the first one, misses the second one and their attention comes back in the middle of the third one.
And that’s where I might be making an error in judgement. In a time where OCD audiences are common, their attention can be a very fickle thing. In an audience with shorter attention spans (sorry mainstream audiences, you tend to be) a lot of people will miss the first joke and actually catch the second… Okey I might be overthinking this just a tad too much.
That’s the whole point I am missing. You’re supposed to stop thinking. This is what the movie is for, and for that it works. Yes, it’s incredibly rude, impolite, anti-PC and sensibilities are thrown under the bus and set on fire. Its charm lies in making fun of the hyper-macho trends of 80’s movies. In that sense, it parodies them all and comes out on top. Redeeming qualities be damn, it just wants to have its cake and eat it too.
A lone wolf cop, Chuck Steel, learns about a plague that turns hobos into vampires – the proverbial “trampires” of the title. Now it’s up to him, trampire hunter Abraham Von Rental, police chief Jack Schitt and a parade of constantly expiring cop partners for Steel to try to stop it. Does the parody ever take itself seriously? No. Is it over the top and hammering guns, violence and guts in your face for its hour and twenty-nine minute run? Yes. Is it too much? Well… It can be.
Recommended only for and with an appreciative audience, and certainly Fantasia was one.That also means that I don’t think it would work with a different crowd. For me, it goes a bit long and overstays its welcome. Plus, compare this to live action movies like The Scythian or The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion and I feel it’s unfair that physical action should be judged in the same vein than claymation style animation. Then again, this one’s on the audience alone.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 