Lavern and Shirley, SNL and the Police Academy films are all represented by the main characters and films writers. The director is also responsible for Sleepaway Camp II & III, the goofy sequels to the legit original. Add a parody of the Godfather and every stereotype of 80s movie characters, and you get this movie. It's slightly funny, but it doesn't come close to being horror, or even horror comedy.
Watch it for the over the top acting and ridiculous plot, which at times is pretty funny.
But the best parts are the background conversations "you kids are gonna have fun if I have to beat it out of you" (look for the mom of this scene, a pre-Trump Marla Maples), or the jokes in the sets, like the sign before the line of a ride that shows a clown holding a rubber sphere that says "you must be as tall as my balls to ride this attraction".
It's all stupid sophomoric humor, but it's still funny. Not a must see, but a good rainy day movie with friends trying to spot the little hidden jokes.
25 Reviews
Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley as an angry clown.
PaulyC29 September 2007
David Lander (Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley) plays Bruce Burger, an angry clown who talks to himself. Need I say more? Although I'm an old man and a lot of people reading this probably think "Laverne and Shirley" is a lesbian porn, I'll go on anyway. When the owner of Funland dies, a mob family buys the park and makes some changes that the parks clown doesn't approve of. After talking it over with his favorite puppet, he takes matters into his own hands. Don't get the wrong idea, this is meant to be a comedy although it's packaged more like a horror film. It's not a bad dark comedy if you can get past some of the bad acting but it did keep me mildly amused.
The joke's on anybody who watches
KDWms5 June 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Sometimes I have the luxury of reading IMDb comments about a movie before watching the flick. Such was the instance here. So I was anticipating that this might be one of the worst. But it didn't impress me that way. Don't get me wrong...we ain't got no Citizen Kane here. However, my opinion is that it's not as awful as some. The jist is that a long-time, unstable employee of Funland is eventually given the heave-ho when the park's ownership changes. The takeover family arranged the death of their predecessor. Wacky as he is (he's a clown, with a puppet which he talks to), our hero deduces this, and snipes at his replacement. Oh yeah - he's also so goofy as to converse with his deceased boss and a wax figure of Humphrey Bogart. It's one of those films that can't possibly be taken seriously. The most intelligent reaction is for the audience to realize that it has been "put on", because we sure have a campy result.
Don't watch this movie, even if your life depend on it.
fuxbot10 December 2001
The box said "Non-stop action."... is this legal?! The whole movie is just a stupid clown talking about his state of mind... who honnestly want to see this! The only action during this movie is the clown shooting some guy. Don't rent it, unless you want to be bored and waste your time.(I know it all sound crude but I wan't to save some from making the same mistake as me.)
For nostalgia value only
dgaither14 April 2005
This movie was filmed largely in Six Flags over Georgia in 1986. Anyone who visited that park near that time will probably find it quite nostalgic. For the rest of us, it's a very long hour and a half. The main problem is that the movie makers couldn't seem to decide whether they were making a comedy or a thriller. There are elements that could be part of a better film in either genre, but because the tone is so inconsistent, it fails in both regards. This is a movie that had some very good ideas. When you hear some of the clever lines, or see the situations that are set up, you can imagine those reading the script being quite excited about its possibilities. None of these setups are ever taken through to the payoff. I guess this movie is a good example of how difficult it is to make even good ideas pay off in a movie.
Ugh
BandSAboutMovies15 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Filmed at Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia, this is the kind of movie that I can't really figure out. Who is it for? What is it really all about? Is it a slasher, which it seems like from that poster? Is it a comedy? Is it even funny? It's a complete mess. But yet, I've watched it more than once.
It was written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, who would write for Saturday Night Live for six years before creating 3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show, as well as the scripts for Coneheads, the two Wayne's World movies, Tommy Boy and The Brady Bunch Movie. We can forgive them for the Whoopi show, That '80s Show and this movie, right?
For this, they were joined by Michael A. Simpson. Who? Oh, you know, the guy who made the two Sleepaway Camp sequels, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland.
I mean, this is the kind of movie where the line, "I'm a graduate of State University. I also attended the David Lee Roth University where I studied rear projection," is the highlight. So just know what you're getting into.
So what is Funland? Well, it's a theme park owned by Angus Perry (William Windom, Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote) that used to be owned by its clown mascot Bruce Burger, who is really former accountant Niel Stickney (David Lander, Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley). And now that the mob has rubbed out Angus and taken over, Niel has gone completely out to lunch, seeing hallucinations of his dead boss and trying to kill the new owners.
There are a lot of comedy names in this, like Bruce Mahler, Robert Sacchi (yes, the Bogart cop from one of the strangest giallo you'll see, The French Sex Murders), Clark Brandon from Fast Food and Mr. Merlin, Michael McManus (who, like Mahler, did time in a Police Academy film), Mary Beth McDonough (one of the Waltons) and a very young Jan Hooks, who had worked with the Turners in Atlanta comedy (and got them on to SNL).
If you're looking for a movie where a demented clown slashes his way through a theme park, well, this is not it. But it's...something.
It was written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, who would write for Saturday Night Live for six years before creating 3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show, as well as the scripts for Coneheads, the two Wayne's World movies, Tommy Boy and The Brady Bunch Movie. We can forgive them for the Whoopi show, That '80s Show and this movie, right?
For this, they were joined by Michael A. Simpson. Who? Oh, you know, the guy who made the two Sleepaway Camp sequels, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland.
I mean, this is the kind of movie where the line, "I'm a graduate of State University. I also attended the David Lee Roth University where I studied rear projection," is the highlight. So just know what you're getting into.
So what is Funland? Well, it's a theme park owned by Angus Perry (William Windom, Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote) that used to be owned by its clown mascot Bruce Burger, who is really former accountant Niel Stickney (David Lander, Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley). And now that the mob has rubbed out Angus and taken over, Niel has gone completely out to lunch, seeing hallucinations of his dead boss and trying to kill the new owners.
There are a lot of comedy names in this, like Bruce Mahler, Robert Sacchi (yes, the Bogart cop from one of the strangest giallo you'll see, The French Sex Murders), Clark Brandon from Fast Food and Mr. Merlin, Michael McManus (who, like Mahler, did time in a Police Academy film), Mary Beth McDonough (one of the Waltons) and a very young Jan Hooks, who had worked with the Turners in Atlanta comedy (and got them on to SNL).
If you're looking for a movie where a demented clown slashes his way through a theme park, well, this is not it. But it's...something.
Possibly the worst movie ever...
thavillain6 August 2020
I'm a sucker for "so bad, it's good" cheesy 80's movies, but OMG this might possibly be the worst movie in existence. The box art looks like a horror, while billing itself as a dark comedy...except it's not funny or even remotely scary. I've had 87 minutes of my life sucked away from me with nothing to show for it but sorrow and sadness
Lamest movie I have seen
adaseb31 March 1999
Locally-made comedy clown drama
Leofwine_draca11 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
FUNLAND is a locally made US comedy drama shot in Georgia. The tale is about a run-down amusement park that's purchased by a ruthless company who decide to keep on a single employee, a crazy guy who thinks he's a clown in real life. This is a bizarre movie, low budget and shot in a real-life fairground. It's an interesting backdrop but the story doesn't really know what it wants to be and feels sluggish and uninvolving as a result.
A classic for those who love bizarre late night trash.
purplepauper13 February 2007
Understandably some people view this movie as a waste of time, but one man's trash is another's treasure. Funland was the creation of a couple of Saturday night live writers - and it shows. Some sections appear to be nothing more than skits filling out the storyline . . . and while some jokes work, some don't, but it's often in the eye of the beholder. Promo posters make it look like a psychotic clown on the rampage but Bruce Burger is the unwitting protagonist trying to save the one thing he believes in. When a mob family take over an amusement park and fire the mentally unstable resident clown he retreats to the closed down wax museum. Here the film takes a bizarre turn as he finds companionship with Marilyn Monroe, Bogart and his hand puppet Peter Pepperoni. They all come 'alive' sometimes preaching tolerance and other times revenge. He's also visited by the murdered ex-owner who wants him to stop the mob destroying the park they both love. Watch out for Bruce's hilarious descent into madness (complete with scantily clad angel of death) when the cafeteria men start rapping and a poster advertising the new roller-coaster, 'Man's Biggest Thrill Is Coming'.
It can't be for real
writtenbymkm-583-90209713 October 2017
This is a joke, right? It has to be a joke. No writer, director, producer, actor, cast and crew, could possibly make something this horrible except as a bizarre joke. Maybe they all got together and said, hey, what if we made the worst movie in the history of the universe, would people be suckered in and think it was entertaining? This cannot be a real movie. All the reviewers who liked it are in on the joke, that is the only possible explanation. I am not even going to mention what it is supposed to be about, because other reviewers have already done it, and because it is not a real movie. It is an incredibly bad joke.
Intended as comedy, neither action nor horror
shampoocell24 November 2004
I'm sure many people sit down to watch this film expecting horror. Although the chintzy tagline does suggest an even chintzier slasher flick, this movie rises above that genre. It's not a slasher flick at all, which is just fine. If anything, I would definitely classify this film in the Dark Comedy genre. It's almost an amusing and mocking look at insanity. The story is an interesting one, and a very creative one at that. Watch it if you enjoy a good chuckle, but not if you're looking for some cheap gore or contrived "pop-out" scare tactics. Prepare yourself for lots and lots of ethnic stereotyping, but done in such a way that it mocks those who actually believe in such stereotypes. The thing that makes this film a dark comedy is not only its ability to poke fun at bigots by catering to their ridiculous beliefs, but also at the utter random (and often crude) humor. If you enjoy films like Better Off Dead and I Love You to Death, it's almost guaranteed that you'll like this movie.
Dark Comedy or Cheesy Horse Apples?
gavin694231 January 2013
When a mob family takes over an amusement park after the owner dies under mysterious circumstances, the recently-fired clown mascot (David Lander, known as Squiggy on "Laverne and Shirley") seeks vengeance for the loss of his job.
The humor of this film is very strange, with a mixture of racist watermelon jokes, a "rectal surgical suppliers" convention, Natalie Wood's rowboat, some Mafia guys who take over the park, and a very, very good Humphrey Bogart impersonator. I am not entirely sure who this is supposed to appeal to (but I think it might be me).
What is really weird is that the film is sort of marketed as a Mafia picture. That is how Netflix sells it, and it is how the plot is described on IMDb (see above). But that is not even the point. A mentally unhinged clown gets fired and then seeks revenge. It does not matter if the mob is in the story or not, because the focus is this crazy clown.
The humor of this film is very strange, with a mixture of racist watermelon jokes, a "rectal surgical suppliers" convention, Natalie Wood's rowboat, some Mafia guys who take over the park, and a very, very good Humphrey Bogart impersonator. I am not entirely sure who this is supposed to appeal to (but I think it might be me).
What is really weird is that the film is sort of marketed as a Mafia picture. That is how Netflix sells it, and it is how the plot is described on IMDb (see above). But that is not even the point. A mentally unhinged clown gets fired and then seeks revenge. It does not matter if the mob is in the story or not, because the focus is this crazy clown.
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
chadgaudette0906-166-41304021 July 2019
Ok, But Could've Been Better
gwnightscream11 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This 1987 comedy features a man, Neil who performs as a clown mascot, Burt Burger for an amusement park, Funland. Soon, his boss & friend dies in a car accident and a mob family becomes the new owners. Neil is fired and replaced, but learns that his boss was murdered by them. This is ok, but could've been better. It had potential to be a straight up horror/slasher flick, but it's still amusing. David Lander (Laverne & Shirley) and Bruce Mahler (Police Academy) are featured. You could give this a try if you're into comedies or dark humor.
Bruce Burger puts the FUN in Funeral!
Coventry22 February 2023
Regardless of how you label this, surprisingly good or absolutely terrible, one thing is for sure: "Funland" is not what you expect. I was hoping for a bloody and violent horror/revenge thriller set in an amusement park; - especially since this is what the awesome DVD cover-art and the plot description promise. Well, guess again... Instead, this is a strange combo of black comedy and downright slapstick, albeit peppered with a few (too few...) sinister aspects.
Is the element of surprise a good thing? Not really, because the concept of a deranged clown-mascot seeking bloody vengeance against a clan of mobsters that took over his beloved theme park sounds tremendously cool, and now I very much regret that I didn't get to see just that.
"Funland" stars an actor named Bruce Mahler, and throughout most of the film I couldn't quite figure out where I knew his face from. Then, suddenly, I remembered he's the clumsy geek Fackler from the "Police Academy" series. And, bizarrely enough, "Funland" actually has a lot more in common with "Police Academy" than with any random horror movie/thriller from the 80s. It's the type of comedy that makes you laugh hard several times, but overall, it's poor and unmemorable.
There are strong moments, for sure. Whenever main character Bruce Burger turns schizophrenic, the story benefices from a moodily ominous atmosphere. His speech at the funeral of the murdered park owner, complete with black clown make-up, is also hilarious! Heck, I could even smile at Robert Sacchi's double-role as stereotypical Italian mafia-patriarch and - obviously - Humphrey Bogart's wax statue coming to life. The rest of the gags and running jokes are borderline pathetic, though, and the complete lack of action is unforgivable. The "revenge" of clown Burger is hardly even worth mentioning, and the ending is beyond dumb.
Is the element of surprise a good thing? Not really, because the concept of a deranged clown-mascot seeking bloody vengeance against a clan of mobsters that took over his beloved theme park sounds tremendously cool, and now I very much regret that I didn't get to see just that.
"Funland" stars an actor named Bruce Mahler, and throughout most of the film I couldn't quite figure out where I knew his face from. Then, suddenly, I remembered he's the clumsy geek Fackler from the "Police Academy" series. And, bizarrely enough, "Funland" actually has a lot more in common with "Police Academy" than with any random horror movie/thriller from the 80s. It's the type of comedy that makes you laugh hard several times, but overall, it's poor and unmemorable.
There are strong moments, for sure. Whenever main character Bruce Burger turns schizophrenic, the story benefices from a moodily ominous atmosphere. His speech at the funeral of the murdered park owner, complete with black clown make-up, is also hilarious! Heck, I could even smile at Robert Sacchi's double-role as stereotypical Italian mafia-patriarch and - obviously - Humphrey Bogart's wax statue coming to life. The rest of the gags and running jokes are borderline pathetic, though, and the complete lack of action is unforgivable. The "revenge" of clown Burger is hardly even worth mentioning, and the ending is beyond dumb.
A delusional clown, a great Bogart imitation, and a scattered story line ...
merklekranz12 July 2016
There are definitely several shining moments in "Funland", including some very "dark comedy", and an absolutely terrific Humphrey Bogart imitation by Robert Sacchi. David Lander is great as the delusional clown "Bruce Burger", the lovable "Funland" mascot. "Funland" reminds me of several others films, including in no small way, "Death to Smoochy". The problem is not the acting or the actors, which seem appropriate for the limited budget, it's the story line, which is quite scattershot, flipping between comedy, drama, and thriller. One thing it is not is a horror film, and anyone seeking splatter will be sorely disappointed. In summary, the whole movie does not amount to much, but there are some hidden gems in a very muddled story. - MERK
Fun without Rifftrax narration
chris-crahen23 February 2021
Don't come in assuming this is a Tobe Hooper/Funhouse type suspense or horror film. Everyone in the film is in on the joke and you will enjoy it if you're understanding that. Squiggly is fun, it's 1980s styles and language, and the humor is snarky fun. If you're looking for Silence of the Lambs look elsewhere. If you want fun black comedy without gore, give this a try.
From an era that can be only replicated, never duplicated
StevePulaski22 September 2014
As disorganized, bewildering, and downright strange as Michael A. Simpson's Funland is, to say I didn't enjoy it at all would be a blatant lie. To say I don't admire or appreciate the culture or saga of films it belongs to would be another hurtful jab at the very era I have grown to love and provide ample amounts of respect to over the years. That specific era is the eighties horror film era, where popular slasher films like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, immensely successful films financially that were made on a shoestring budget, proved to ambitious writers/directors that you didn't need to have millions of dollars and studio connections to make and release a film (the original Friday the 13th had an unmissable advertisement in a magazine before a script was even written).
Because of this new trend, directors and writers were racing to a neverending finish line to make their own slasher films, which is why there are so many unsung gems (and duds) that still haven't gotten their recognition. Many of these films achieved a cult following and, if one were to peruse a catalog or one of the many websites dedicated to the preservation and admiration of such films, they could find these kinds of films quite easily. It's films like Funland that you need to dig deeper for; the kind of quirky, unabashedly ridiculous, low-key effort that you almost can't believe passed the script stages. Whether or not the film was released in theaters is a mystery to me, but if it was, this may indeed be the most forgotten American horror film to ever grace the silver screen.
The film focuses on the titular amusement park, which is owned by the goofy Angus Perry (William Windom). The amusement park is a sore for sight eyes, as the employees are bored and uninterested in their positions, the rides have an unsafe look to them, and the entire environment reeks of cheesiness and sleaze. However, the most dedicated member of Funland appears to be Niel Stickney (David L. Lander), who plays "Bruce Burger," the clown mascot of the park, who is draped with a slice of pizza. Neil has played Bruce for so long that he no longer wants to be called "Neil," nor have his checks made out to him in that name. This all adheres to his grip on reality, which is becoming looser and looser as time goes on.
The back-breaking straw is when Angus dies under circumstances almost too unbelievable, and the park becomes overtaken by a mob family, who oversee a great deal of changes to the park, one of which is getting rid of the park's signature clown character in favor of the corporate mascot. Angus always defended the relevancy of Neil and the character he passionately plays, but now that he's gone, the mob ousts him at once. The mob's pawn is the park's careless manager Mike Spencer (the great Bruce Mahler), who agrees to let Neil go, leading Neil to buy a rifle and take revenge on the park that has let go of him.
Despite a great deal of lovable cheesiness, stemming from everything from the acting to the production quality (the opening titles have a strange fuzziness to them, as well as the catchy opening music being a bit louder than normal), Funland's biggest misstep is that it's a horror film that never realizes it's a horror film. It toys with genres of dark comedy, action, and mystery, and occasionally masquerades as a horror film with suspense and unpredictability within its tone, but never does the film forgo its numerous other genres to work as what it should be trying to achieve. Most of the film, however, operates with a wonderful sense of blackness to its comedy, which works wonderfully, especially in the first half hour, when we're getting acquainted with this demented Funland Amusement Park. During this time, humor flows in unrestricted free-form, while characters say and do the most outlandish things possible, with humor arousing from almost every circumstance.
With this, I was kind of disappointed to realize that Funland doesn't keep up this sense of dark humor all the way through, and instead goes for a more potboiling thriller in the weakest sense towards the end, while only emphasizing a small element of the blackness in the meantime. However, during the first half hour there's a certain hilarity that almost can't be replicated, as it's a hilarity that exists because of our unfamiliarity with this crazy world. Indeed, the film exists in a world of its own, and for that, operates as one of the most humble and ridiculous films of the 1980's I have yet to see.
Starring: David L. Lander, William Windom, and Bruce Mahler. Directed by: Michael A. Simpson.
Because of this new trend, directors and writers were racing to a neverending finish line to make their own slasher films, which is why there are so many unsung gems (and duds) that still haven't gotten their recognition. Many of these films achieved a cult following and, if one were to peruse a catalog or one of the many websites dedicated to the preservation and admiration of such films, they could find these kinds of films quite easily. It's films like Funland that you need to dig deeper for; the kind of quirky, unabashedly ridiculous, low-key effort that you almost can't believe passed the script stages. Whether or not the film was released in theaters is a mystery to me, but if it was, this may indeed be the most forgotten American horror film to ever grace the silver screen.
The film focuses on the titular amusement park, which is owned by the goofy Angus Perry (William Windom). The amusement park is a sore for sight eyes, as the employees are bored and uninterested in their positions, the rides have an unsafe look to them, and the entire environment reeks of cheesiness and sleaze. However, the most dedicated member of Funland appears to be Niel Stickney (David L. Lander), who plays "Bruce Burger," the clown mascot of the park, who is draped with a slice of pizza. Neil has played Bruce for so long that he no longer wants to be called "Neil," nor have his checks made out to him in that name. This all adheres to his grip on reality, which is becoming looser and looser as time goes on.
The back-breaking straw is when Angus dies under circumstances almost too unbelievable, and the park becomes overtaken by a mob family, who oversee a great deal of changes to the park, one of which is getting rid of the park's signature clown character in favor of the corporate mascot. Angus always defended the relevancy of Neil and the character he passionately plays, but now that he's gone, the mob ousts him at once. The mob's pawn is the park's careless manager Mike Spencer (the great Bruce Mahler), who agrees to let Neil go, leading Neil to buy a rifle and take revenge on the park that has let go of him.
Despite a great deal of lovable cheesiness, stemming from everything from the acting to the production quality (the opening titles have a strange fuzziness to them, as well as the catchy opening music being a bit louder than normal), Funland's biggest misstep is that it's a horror film that never realizes it's a horror film. It toys with genres of dark comedy, action, and mystery, and occasionally masquerades as a horror film with suspense and unpredictability within its tone, but never does the film forgo its numerous other genres to work as what it should be trying to achieve. Most of the film, however, operates with a wonderful sense of blackness to its comedy, which works wonderfully, especially in the first half hour, when we're getting acquainted with this demented Funland Amusement Park. During this time, humor flows in unrestricted free-form, while characters say and do the most outlandish things possible, with humor arousing from almost every circumstance.
With this, I was kind of disappointed to realize that Funland doesn't keep up this sense of dark humor all the way through, and instead goes for a more potboiling thriller in the weakest sense towards the end, while only emphasizing a small element of the blackness in the meantime. However, during the first half hour there's a certain hilarity that almost can't be replicated, as it's a hilarity that exists because of our unfamiliarity with this crazy world. Indeed, the film exists in a world of its own, and for that, operates as one of the most humble and ridiculous films of the 1980's I have yet to see.
Starring: David L. Lander, William Windom, and Bruce Mahler. Directed by: Michael A. Simpson.
Good but falls short
horns-117 October 2004
Michael A. Simpson is great at creating satire with exaggerated archetypical characters. Funland (1986), like Simpson's Sleepaway Camp films (2 & 3), features funny and interesting characters with good dialogue, decent settings, and a tongue-in-cheek storyline. There's some pretty zany stuff going on in this movie, some of which you might miss if you divert your attention for too long. For example, there's a sign at the gate of one of the rides of a clown holding a ball in each hand and it reads something like, "You must be as tall as my balls to ride." The camera aims momentarily at the clown's crotch. Also the whole absurd lectures given by managers who'd like their minimum wage employees to believe they were working in a powerful profession and to have them give them respect as if he/she were Bill Gates or someone all-important. There's a hilarious pizza-making speech. Once again, as with the Sleepaway Camp films, Simpson gets away with racial and homosexual slights because they're too obvious, so flagrant that no intelligent viewer could begin to take them seriously, in fact, they're very comical. Funland is good up to a point. About halfway through the film falls flat when it opts for quasi serious approach instead of evolving into a horror comedy. I strongly believe Funland could have been 100% better if it would have become a horror film. The two teenage leads should have had more camera time and the deeply troubled clown, Bruce Burger, played convincingly by David L. Lander of Laverne & Shirley fame, Andrew 'Squiggy' Squiggmann, should have went on a murderous bloody rampage, in which the two lovers would have had to fight to stay alive. Had Funland been closer to Sleepaway Camp 2 & 3 in its production it would have done much better in finding an audience. Sleepaway Camp 3 fans might notice the television reporter in Funland as the same actress in SC3 who also played the reporter. There are lots of familiar faces in Funland, actors and actresses who have appeared in many low-budget goodies over the decades. There's an overweight female character who acts like someone right out of a SNL skit, and she pulls the humor off quite well as an overzealous park security guard. All in all, Funland is an enjoyable little slapstick flick. But it could have really turned into a memorable cult classic if horror would have played a major part, and that's too bad. I suggest you watch Simpson's Sleepaway Camp 2 & 3 to see what Funland could have aspired to.
An enjoyable oddball comedy
Woodyanders22 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The evil mobster outfit the Di Mauro family take over the amusement park Funland after they bump off jolly nice guy owner Angus Perry (a solid and engaging portrayal by William Windom). When the Di Mauro clan fires loopy and unhinged clown Neil "Fred Burger" Stickley (well played with demented aplomb by David Lander of "Laverne & Shirley" fame) from his job, the already bonkers Stickley loses what little sanity he has left and vows revenge. Director Michael A. Simpson, who also co-wrote the wacky script with Bonnie and Terry Turner, mines a very quirky and inspired line in often amusing and occasionally downright surreal dark humor: Funny comedic highlights include the park's black employees being forced to work at a watermelon stand, Stickley's priceless eulogy at Perry's funeral, some hilarious PA announcements, a crazy rap song and dance routine in the park cafeteria, Stickley's conversations with Perry's ghost and an imagined Humphrey Bogart (veteran Bogie impersonator Robert Sacchi, who also hams it up in a second part as ruthless Mafia capo Maurio Di Mauro), an outrageous strip drag number, and several Klu Klux Klan members going to Funland wearing their infamous white hoods and robes. Moreover, we also get extremely broad, yet still sidesplitting caricatures of homosexuals and Italian-Americans. This film further benefits from sound acting from a capable cast, with stand-out contributions by Bruce Mahler as amiable executive Mike Spencer, Clark Brandon as the brash Doug Sutterfield, Jill Carroll as the sweet Denise Wilson, Mary Beth McDonough as the snippy and abrasive Kristen Cumming, and Terry Beaver as the smarmy Carl Di Mauro. Kudos are also in order for William Vanderkloot's crisp cinematography and the cool rockin' soundtrack. A real hoot.
Not what you expect
JoeB13113 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The movie kind of promotes itself as a typical slasher/Dead teenager movie, and you have a whole bunch of scenes of what you think are going to be future victims. Instead, you get a movie that is kind of a comedy, where a mob family takes over an amusement part, not realizing that their clown mascot is in fact, insane.
The movie has a lot of funny, cheap gags, a few of which would not pass the Political Correctness Test today. My only complaint is that they had too many side characters and side stories that had nothing to do with the Crazy Clown vs. Mobsters main plot. Also, lots of Second Unit "Film the Rodeo' footage taken at Six Flags over Georgia where it was filmed.
The movie has a lot of funny, cheap gags, a few of which would not pass the Political Correctness Test today. My only complaint is that they had too many side characters and side stories that had nothing to do with the Crazy Clown vs. Mobsters main plot. Also, lots of Second Unit "Film the Rodeo' footage taken at Six Flags over Georgia where it was filmed.
An 80's obscurity but enjoyable if you want a good laugh.
jackal7229 August 2021
The first time I saw Funland at least 30 years ago the VHS was sitting right in the horror section. Very misleading as I'm not the only one to get caught in the confusion back then. But I found the movie to be amusing. Funland is a dark comedy plain and simple.
It makes fun of some of the tacky corporate ideas of the amusement park/entertainment industry. Watching certain scenes you know there's a sexual innuendo coming. If you're of the younger generation that's absorbed in political correctness you'll probably be shaken by a few scenes in the movie. The storyline isn't hard to understand but like Caddyshack the film does branch out a little among the staff of Funland.
Let me put it this way-If I were left with only two 80's comedies to watch (the other being Weird Science)...I'd pick Funland. This movie actually had some recognizable faces from films if you were born in the 70's/80's era like the guy who played the accident prone Fackler from the Police Academy movies.
It's worth watching once, it will gain your attention or it won't.
It makes fun of some of the tacky corporate ideas of the amusement park/entertainment industry. Watching certain scenes you know there's a sexual innuendo coming. If you're of the younger generation that's absorbed in political correctness you'll probably be shaken by a few scenes in the movie. The storyline isn't hard to understand but like Caddyshack the film does branch out a little among the staff of Funland.
Let me put it this way-If I were left with only two 80's comedies to watch (the other being Weird Science)...I'd pick Funland. This movie actually had some recognizable faces from films if you were born in the 70's/80's era like the guy who played the accident prone Fackler from the Police Academy movies.
It's worth watching once, it will gain your attention or it won't.
"Is he clowned out or what"?
lost-in-limbo7 May 2016
The mob takes over a theme park where the owner mysteriously dies, and they go about making changes. One being that the resident clown mascot of many years is fired, but Bruce Burger who's pretty much lost in his character takes it hard by seeking vengeance. It's hard not raise an eye-brow on this low-budget production. The poster artwork is very misleading, as you could say it paints something rather horrifying, even dark. But that's not entirely the case with this very tongue-in-cheek, black comedy. Yeah it's a comedy, but no horror/thriller. Sure there are few bizarre (wax figure, dead people and hand puppet coming to life) and edgy moments, but it's offset by certain buoyant and colourful exchanges like out of some goofy 1980s comedy. With this all in mind, I still didn't mind the oddball nature of "Funland". I thought worked in parts. The dry script and animated acting was spot on, even if it came across amateurish, but the creativeness and unpredictability shines through. You're never too sure how things would pan out, but it does seem to get crazier and warped the further along it goes. Even if the presentation is limited in styling, the director does a really competent job in getting everything to come together. David Lander's performance as the unhinged clown was nothing short then incredible, especially watching his descent into madness and mental breakdown.
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