SCARED SHITLESS (2024)

4 stars

Self funded. Currently playing festivals

With its great title SCARED SHITLESS is an unpretentious and fun Canadian comedy monster horror with a great B movie sensibility — and I mean that in a good way!

The film starts with a scientist Dr Robert (Mark McKinney) escaping from his burning lab – his experiments have gone awry but he has the results which he takes back to his apartment, which you know is never a good thing.

We are introduced to plumber Don (Steven Ogg, one of those familiar faced actors that you know you have seen is something). His son Sonny (Daniel Doheny) is still coming to terms with his mum’s recent death. He never leaves the house and has developed a severe case of germophobia. So he is not too keen when his dad suggests he comes along to the apartment block the Palmer Estate, where he regularly visits lonely old lady Mrs Applebaum (Marcia Bennett) to unblock her loo. Little do they realise what they are walking into – the experiment from Project X, which Dr Robert brought back to the building, is now loose in the sewage system. Can Sonny and his dad prevent it from escaping into the wider world?

This enjoyable escapade is an expansion of a short by Mike Fly Fleischhaker from 2021. Working from a tight script by Brandon Cohen (who also penned the original short) this is well directed by Vivieno Caldinelli and balances the thrills and monster mayhem with the comedy elements to make a highly entertaining movie. With a poster that echoes the GHOULIES movies and a sensibility that Lloyd Kaufman would love, this wouldn’t look out of place gracing either the catalogue of Charles Band or Troma. The gory and slimy practical effects add to the overall throwback feel as the film cracks along in its short but sweet 76 minute run time.

This is currently playing festivals having it’s international premiere at the recent FrightFest in London.

Steve Kirkham