Plot
Horny the clown, the mascot of local
fast food joint Hella Burger, begins killing off a group of teenagers in
Orange County. At first the teenagers think that the deaths are random but
after a while, they begin to suspect that there is something more amiss.
They realise that their parents aren't telling them why Horny has targeted them.
Review
I bought this months ago after seeing the trailer on
another DVD. My first thoughts upon seeing the trailer were "wow, a slasher
film with a clown as the killer" and so I rushed out to buy it from the
States. But by the time it came, my enthusiasm had died down and it was
placed on the shelf with the hundreds of other films I've had queued up to
watch. Slowly as time went on, I've put off watching it in favour of newer
films but I couldn't put it off any longer. So I eventually took the plunge
and within minutes of sitting down to watch, I suddenly realised that I had made a huge mistake and error of judgment.
Despite it's decent production values and the
look of a bigger budgeted film, Drive Thru is a terrible slasher film
which had me tuning out before the first scene had even finished. When
you've got a bunch of not-so-tough white actors spouting off hip-hop speak
and acting like they're stereotypically gangsta, you really don't see the
rest of the characters being better developed. And that is the case indeed.
This has to be the most irritating bunch of characters I've ever seen.
They're obnoxious. They're dumb as hell. They're just plain annoying.
Dialogue was definitely not high on the list of skills that the script
writer brought to the table. But like a lot of the film, it seems to have
been written on the fly so it wouldn't surprise me if the actors were just
making it up as they went along. Thankfully co-directors Brendan Cowles and
Shane Kuhn waste little time in unleashing Horny the Clown and the kills are
at least gory, if a little on the predictable side.
I was expecting a lot more of the fast-food gimmick seeing as
though the premise of a slasher set inside a fast food restaurant does have
some novelty appeal. You've got an instant check list of fast food-themed
kills which the audience would be familar with yet none of them are used.
Maybe McDonalds threatened to sue in cast it harmed their business!
But this angle is merely an opening scene ploy and
Drive Thru shifts into a complete A Nightmare on Elm Street
rip-off soon after, complete with a supernatural bad guy who spouts
one-liners and a group of teenagers being targeted for the actions of their
parents.
The film really tries to be funny and scary at
the same time and fails miserably on both counts. The dialogue is filled
with one-liners and jokes that the co-directors and writer obviously found
funny but no one outside their circle of friends would. Does anyone find
cheesy horror film bad guys who fire off quips before dispatching victims
even remotely funny anymore? You're more likely to groan and roll your
eyeballs than laugh with amusement and this isn't just a problem with
Drive Thru, it's a problem with a lot of modern slasher films that try
to channel the spirit of Freddy Kruger. He wasn't that funny to begin with
and too many slasher films try to make their villains stand out with the
same comedic tone. Horny the clown
is the best bit of the film bar none though. He has one of the best costumes I've seen for
a while for a slasher - the suit looks like something I'd wear for Halloween
and his clown face even has a speaker for a mouth so that when he talks, it
sounds like the guy who takes your order in the drive-thru. There's also an ironic piece
of casting in which Morgan Spurlock, the documentary filmmaker who went on
the McDonalds diet in Supersize Me, is cast as the manager of the fast
food chain. You'd think that the film would run with this a little more and
throw in some jokes but
it's a totally wasted opportunity.
Verdict
Really hard to sit
through despite the promise of a killer clown, Drive Thru is 83
minutes of pure fast food junk. Like a fast food burger, it may look good
when you pick it up but as soon as you take your first bite, you realise
you've made a horrible mistake and all you've got left is an ultimately
fatty concoction of things that are bad for your health. A crappy slasher
films are top of my list!
