Pulp Modern: Die Laughing review.
Pulp Modern: Die Laughing may not always be a laugh riot…but it is a hidden gem of a horror anthology.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Pulp Modern: Die Laughing
Directed by Aaron McJames, Scotch Rutherford, Cameron Schwartz, Ryan Shovey and Alex Montilla
Written by Nicole Bird, Alexander Cicak, Traycee King, Aaron McJames, Alex Montilla, Cameron Schwartz and Ryan Shovey
Starring Traycee King, Randy Havens, Amy Letcher, Aaron Jay Rome, Simon Laherty, Will Coffin, Bryan Mordechai Jackson
Pulp Modern: Die Laughing Review
Pulp Modern: Die Laughing kicks off with one of the best anthology segments we’ve seen in some time. This will no doubt spoil the end of our segment rankings later in the review…but it’s the first thing that comes to mind when discussing the film. An impressive feat given it is the first thing that we see in the movie. It’s strong enough to warrant Pulp Modern: Die Laughing a recommendation on its own. There is, however, plenty more to like in the rest of the movie.
There is also a framing story, of course. Titled Vinyl Trap, it is kept brief. It supplies short interstitial moments to get us from one segment to the next. A radio DJ (who hilariously plays royalty free classical music) is reading the stories that we will be watching out of Pulp Modern magazine. It connects to the material in some fun ways…in one big way at the end. Framing stories are not my favorite thing in the world so the way Pulp Modern: Die Laughing handles it is appreciated. It’s not going to get in the way. The DJ is receiving bothersome phone calls from a one-night stand…and he’s receiving little gifts that fit the story we just watched. There isn’t much more to it, but it does lead to one final fun moment in the film.
The short stories contained within Pulp Modern: Die Laughing don’t quite fit together thematically to achieve a consistent tone…but their strong productions do lend a consistent quality. Nothing hits as well as the first one…but there isn’t a dud in the bunch. Some strong gore effects (when called upon) add a nice bonus.
With that out of the way…let’s get down to business. Excluding Vinyl Trap, let’s rank the segments of Pulp Modern: Die Laughing. From bottom to top…as is our way.
5. Mirrored (segment 2)
An easy call for the bottom of the list…but not because of quality. Mirrored is simply far too short to have the impact of the other segments. Its positioning is interesting. After a killer opening, Pulp Modern: Die Laughing introduces us to its framing story. The first short presented after that brief introduction is this almost equally short story about an evil mirror. Mirrored isn’t helped by the jarring nature of switching stories so quickly. Within just a few minutes we rubber band from Vinyl Trap to Mirrored back to Vinyl Trap. It would be hard for any short segment to make an impact under the circumstances.
4. Rest Stop (segment 3)
The midpoint of Pulp Modern is the longest segment contained in the movie. It’s a good one…though it lacks the humor of the three higher ranked segments. An adaptation of the Stephen King story of the same name, Rest Stop has strong production values and an intriguing central character. A literature professor who publishes novels about featuring a much more capable protagonist finds himself taken over by his more confident alter ego in a time of crisis. The result is a bloody affair unbecoming of the passive writer who is walked all over at work.
This is a quality segment that only ranks behind others due to its lack of comedic moments. The fact that it’s second from the bottom speaks to the high level of quality in the complete package. It just seems to have missed the Die Laughing memo in the film’s subtitle. It’s still fun and very well made, however.
3. Sloppy Seconds (segment 5)
The final segment in Pulp Modern centers on a cheating husband. Plans to meet his mistress are derailed by his wife’s insistence on attending the special dinner she’s made for him. Texts from his mistress ramp up the tension as the affair appears to be on the verge of revelation. While it may be clear where Sloppy Seconds is heading…it gets there in a fun way. And it ends with whatever the bloody equivalent to a bang would be.
Sloppy Seconds is a fun way to wrap up the short stories inside the film…and it ends up connected to the Vinyl Trap framing device in a fun way. A strong ending worthy of madness Die Laughing had built from the start.
2. Cocky (segment 4)
A foul mothed cockatoo wreaks havoc on the relationship between a grandson and his grandmother. The grandson thinks it’s funny to teach the bird dirty words…a situation that blows up in his face when the bird becomes sentient and begins to verbally destruct his family unit.
Cocky is a fairly standard affair until about midway through the segment. That’s when the cockatoo starts letting loose. The evil bird plants seeds of destruction into the heads of his keepers…then sits back to watch the chaos. It even finds time to assault a priest. Whatever tone Die Laughing was hoping to achieve…Cocky feels like the most fully realized version of it.
1. Overkill (segment 1)
Where to being with Overkill? The opening segment of Pulp Modern is a real treat. Predating even the framing device of the movie…this slasher comedy succeeds where so many others have failed. It’s genuinely funny. It has slyly brilliant comments to make on the genre. Dropping teens with modern sensibilities into the world of a throwback slasher…it unleashes some biting social commentary. It accomplishes more in its brief run time than most slasher comedies do with 90 minutes. Oh…how I wish Overkill was a feature length film.
The antagonist is an unkillable masked man. He faces off with the final girl…several times. The trope characters you expect in a slasher are here…quickly dispatched, or course. Overkill breaks down the way slasher movies work as well as any movie we’ve seen in decades. And it does it without wasting a second of screen time. There is a level of brilliance here enhanced by a willingness to run the joke into the ground. And shoot it in the head. And chop it into pieces…and blow it up. A can’t miss segment that immediately puts Pulp Modern: Die Laughing on the map.
Scare Value
While it may never quite reach the heights set by its fantastic opening scene…Pulp Modern: Die Laughing is a very good horror/comedy anthology. There are plenty of laughs to be had throughout. Even if a couple of segments don’t quite fit the theme. A consistently entertaining film with some very high points. Starts off strong and keeps on going.
3.5/5
Pulp Modern: Die Laughing Link
Rent/Buy on VOD from Amazon
