THE GRANNY Review On "Violent Manaic's Cage"

GRANNY, THE

Well, I guess I'm no longer a sell-out, reviewing those well-known horror films. As many e-mails as I got asking me to review well-known films, I got more asking me to go back to the obscure ones. So, here it is: an obscure horror-comedy called THE GRANNY which seems to be making the late night rounds on Cinemax or The Movie Channel. Luckily, one night, I happened to turn on cable and there it was, THE GRANNY.

At first it looked like a total comedy: a bickering family with the evil old grandmother in a wheelchair yelling insults at everyone. They all hated her, but they put up with their old matriarch because they were waiting for here to croak and then they would take her large fortune. It sounds annoying, doesn't it? But actually, it's a lot of fun watching what is a black comedy for the first half of the movie. If you like sarcastic humor, you'll enjoy this segment of the film...particularly the teenage boy who threatens to have a wrestling match with his granny (who's a big fan of the WWF).

Everything changes, however, one day when granny gets a visit by a stranger who gives her a potion and promises her eternal life. The thing is: this potion has to be taken correctly. And guess what? She doesn't take it correctly, and she keels over. The family, of course, it ecstatic. This means millions of dollars for all of them. All except the one person who actually cared for the old hag: her personal servant, a beautiful young lady who is supposed to be playing a prude but actually looks more like a Playboy-Playmate with her hair in a bun and glasses. This hilarious movie actually has the granny say to her servant, "No man would ever have you." What, is she psycho?!?!?!?! (well, yes, actually, but we'll get there). This woman is beautiful, perhaps even more so with her glasses! Anyways, I suppose this is part of the humor of the movie, which really doesn't take itself too seriously.

Anyways, the granny of course comes back to life, but this time she's even meaner than she was. In fact, she's a killer, and she takes out her family members one by one, using a Freddy-like one-liner after every one. It is up to her personal servant, the mysterious stranger, and some cheesy magic to save the day and defeat the evil one, THE GRANNY!

It sounds totally ridiculous, doesn't it? But it's a lot of fun. Watching these people scheme and plot as the camera spins in a stylish mode is great fun. Once the actions starts, there's some good gore, nudity, and truly awful special effects which just seems to add to the fun. The campy fun begins with the fact that the granny is played by a younger woman in horribly transparent make-up and continues all the way through. Although the end is kind of lame and in general, you kind of leave thinking that you just spent 100 minutes of your life watching crap which probably left you dumber than you were when you started, in the end, I have to recommend THE GRANNY because it contains all the essentials to a fun, albeit bad, horror movie.

Rating: *** (out of a possible 4)

Review by: Dan Sachar

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