As promised, I’m back with another post. I took another spin of the Netflix Roulette wheel this afternoon, and while I didn’t win, at least Netflix picked something a little different for me to watch. In other words, I did not have to sit through another haunted-house movie. Honestly, I was starting to feel like one of the protagonists in those films… no matter what I do I can’t escape the haunted-house (movie). That being said, I still wasn’t prepared for what this movie had in store for me… don’t get me wrong, I knew about Bad Milo! and its plot… that still doesn’t really get you ready prepare one for this movie.

I’ve been struggling with how to summarize the plot of this film… I mean the plot is linear and I could probably describe it in one or two sentences… but, do I really have to do this? Well, I’ve done it for all of the rest, so I guess I’ll do it for this one too. Bad Milo! is a 2013 horror-comedy (leaning much more towards the side of comedy than horror) about Duncan, a put-upon man (played by Ken Marino) who’s dark-side manifests as a demon that lives inside of his colon. The demon leaves his colon (taking the same route as everything that leaves a colon does) when Duncan is stressed and goes on killing sprees, usually killing those who are tormenting Duncan. There… are you happy?

I have yet to cover a horror-comedy on this blog and while they take a very different approach than the films I’ve watched thus far, I feel that they are an important sub-genre that deserves attention. Therefore, whenever they come up on my Netflix Roulette spin, I won’t turn them away. Therefore, let’s get started on my thoughts about Bad Milo! The first thing I will say is that the cast has a solid backing of current comedians (Gillian Jacobs, Kumail Nanjiani (if you’re not listening to his podcast The X-Files Files you should get on that) and the aforementioned Ken Marino). All-in-all I would say that Bad Milo! rates as a middling horror-comedy. I feel that the most successful horror-comedies take the subject matter seriously and it’s more the absurdity of what’s happening as well as the main characters reactions that lead to the comedy. This is probably best illustrated in Shaun of the Dead… I know I’m not saying anything earth-shattering or really even original, but the core of that movie takes itself very seriously. Bad Milo! attempts to do this as well. This is best seen in the characterization of Ken Marino’s Duncan. For nearly the entirety of the movie he plays his character straight. In other words, he tries to act as if a real live human being suddenly discovers that he has a demon in his colon that likes to come out and murder people. This helps the tone of the film tremendously. However, he is surrounded by caricatures… his boss, his father, his stepfather, his psychologist, his coworker, his doctor… pretty much everyone else in the film. In the end, this makes the film feel more and more like a straight comedy spoof, rather than a funny homage. Also, not matter how straight you play it, we’re still dealing with a rectal demon…

One final thing, I absolutely loved the use of puppetry for Milo (the… sigh… butt-demon)… it made me feel like I was watching an 80s horror movie… I could have looked at that hideously-cute puppet for hours.

Okay, I think that’s enough Netflix Roulette for this week. I’ll probably watch The Nightmare tomorrow and then maybe revisit a classic on Friday. See you soon!

me