Just when I thought it was safe to watch movies I find one about a demon possessed cubbyhouse, yeah, that’s exactly what Cubbyhouse is about. And it’s cheesy as hell - which is a perfect comparison becausw this cubbyhouse is not an ordinary cubbyhouse, it was a long time ago the centre of a coven of Devil worshippers! Uhhhh! Scary! Not only this, this is actually an Australian movie released in 2001 and it feels like it was shot and unleashed on the unsuspecting audience in 1989. It’s that corny!
Now, this doesn’t necessary mean it’s bad or silly...well, it IS silly, but far from bad. And far from good also actually. Somewhere down in the middle I would say. The sales pitch with Cubbyhouse is the presence of Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project), as the over-aged teenaged son in this unlucky family - and he phones in his performance like he was Michael Madsen or someone.
So why are they unlucky? Well, for fucks sake, they have a possessed cubbyhouse in their garden, who attracts the two younger kids in the family - a boy and a girl - and makes them worshippers of good old Satan himself! Fun! What’s even more cool is that the trees around the cubbyhouse obviously also is possessed and attacks people - just like in William Friedkin’s The Guardian - and The Evil Dead of course. Can’t beat killer trees, like my grandma always said!
On a level of cheese Cubbyhouse is a fine Brie, not too tasty, not too weak. It’s perfect with a salty biscuit of campiness. Imagine movies like The Gate and The Unholy, but more like it’s been in out in the sun for an hour or two, melted to a pile of cheesy, sticky goo. It actually striking how much older it seems, from the acting style and visuals to the script and sometimes the effects - the only thing that makes it come out as a new movie, maybe late nineties instead, is the digital effects which appears from time to time.
It’s also - maybe even more than something else - a huge rip-off on The Evil Dead, specifically Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. Not the humor or the demons, because there’s the nothing like that in Cubbyhouse, but the whole thing with the tree, the colorful atmosphere and the ending which - now when I think about it - is very, very Evil Dead 2-ish. You’ll understand when you see it.
How about the gore then? Well, sadly enough not much, but there’s some blood splashing and a few kills - but it feels a lot like the above mentioned The Gate and similar movies from the late eighties, they’re really not that gory or graphic - which is fine by me. Cubbyhouse is still packed with silly effects and lots and lots of stupidity without getting too annoying. It didn’t change my house really, but I wasn’t bored and sometimes that’s all what you need on a slow Sunday afternoon.
"and he phones in his performance like he was Michael Madsen or someone."
WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST WRITE JUST NOW......hahhahahhhhh.....don´t bash Madsen....or big M as I call him.
Big M doesn´t phone in his performances......they are lowkey, subtle...and....and....ok, sometimes he just wanders around.
But I like him, just look at him in Croc (2007) , or any of his other 226 credits.....ahhahahhahha...he rocks!
"What’s even more cool is that the trees around the cubbyhouse obviously also is possessed and attacks people - just like in William Friedkin’s The Guardian"
Ahhhhhhh.... The Guardian (1990) how I love thee.....there should be more killer trees in film, and Friedkin should do a creature feature before he dies.
"On a level of cheese Cubbyhouse is a fine Brie, not too tasty, not too weak."
Oh, a cheese reference how lovely...hahahahhahha
"Cubbyhouse is still packed with silly effects and lots and lots of stupidity without getting too annoying. It didn’t change my house really, but I wasn’t bored and sometimes that’s all what you need on a slow Sunday afternoon."
Perfect on a sunday, good review and thanks Fred.
Posted by: Megatron | March 10, 2014 at 00:17
These are my fav. kind of movies,i’ll search for it and watch it tonight,hope I’ll be scared.
Posted by: Queen's | March 11, 2014 at 08:28