3/21/2019

Now, here's a film that doesn't quite know it's 1991 and attempts a bizarre ode to The <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre </i> (1974), albeit with PG sensibility. Demi Moore is one of the film's main revelations and she masters its wackiness with a strangely befitting coolness. Ackroyd <i>is</i> the wackiness, but that's only if you can recognize him under the genius of the makeup-grotesquery. Ackroyd directs here as well as plays the hick judge of a-town-time-forgot and has a lot of fun playing with unsuspecting passers-through. The set pieces are inspired too and this truly is an odd yet fun ride, once it gets going. The only real contention is Chevy Chase who's a real stick in the mud - Tom Hanks was unfortunately busy.