Unmasked Part 25 (1988) User Reviews

The Masked Killer Sighing Despondently

[LanceBrave · 5/10 · 5 November 2013]

"Unmasked Part 25" has got a great premise. The London-lensed film concerns Jackson, an immortal slasher killer who hides his hideously deformed face behind a hockey mask. However, Jackson is tired of the slasher game. Brutally murdering partying, half-naked teenagers has lost its zeal. He's ready to settle down, find someone who loves him for who he is inside. The film can be summed up as "What if Jason had a midlife crisis?" It's honestly the kind of story I would have loved as a teenager, when I spent a lot of time writing jokey, splatstick stories about horror archetypes in non-horror scenarios.

Disappointingly, "Unmasked Part 25" doesn't live up to its fantastic concept. The movie has got exactly three great scenes in it. After executing a house of twenty-something partiers, the killer comes upon a blind woman. She starts talking to him, showing no fear, taking him back to her apartment, coaxing him out of his grunting, speechless mindset. At first, a high-pitched, British accent coming from behind a hockey mask is rather amusing. That first encounter between the two, where they bond over their mutual status as outcast, Jackson occasionally dropping hints about his particular life-style, is good stuff. If the movie had cut off at the twenty minute point, I would be lift with a smile on my face.

Instead, "Unmasked Part 25" rolls on. Jackson talks a lot. He goes on about his childhood with his abusive father, and years in the woods around his camp. He returns home to his dad, who tries to convince him he's only a monster, even though Jackson thinks he's in love. He complains about his problems to his dad and girlfriend. A scene where he winds up in a bar with some drunk jerks drags terribly. By playing the maniac's existential ennui a little too straight, "Unmasked Part 25" becomes a slog. I would hope, if he could talk and reflect on his life, Jason Voorhees wouldn't be this much of a whiny baby.

The romantic subplot doesn't quite work either. A scene of Shirley and Jackson out for a stroll through town ends with them in a Halloween costume shop. I think there's supposes to be jokes there but the sequence is deafeningly dour. We get a peak into the killer's sex life and learn that his girlfriend is into BDSM, a frankly baffling scene. The script seems to think the premise of "a Jason expy who can't stand to tie his girlfriend up" is enough to support a protracted, extended sequence. There's even a long moment of the guy just walking around London, not doing much.

"Unmasked Part 25" tries to have it both ways. As Friday the 13th rolls around, Jackson is compelled to go on a murderous spree, finding a troupe of drunken Shakespearean actors to slash through. (Rather perversely, the film credits Shakespeare as a screenwriter.) The movie briefly comes alive again as Jackson calls his victims out for partaking in horror clichés as he offs them. The brief moment of the masked killer sighing despondently, surrounded by mangled corpses, gets a bigger laugh then the entire rest of the film. Once again, the movie goes moody and self-serious for the last scene. It's not Jackson's brutal murders that make him unlikable but instead his constant whining.

"Unmasked Part 25" will test the patience of most slasher fans. By the standards of grainy VHS-tape low budget slasherdom, the gore is actually quite good. Looking at the film, you can see a much wittier, insightful, and far more consistent in there somewhere. Alas.

Decent

[ethylester · 7/10 · 9 August 2002]

This is an entertaining movie. I didn't "get it" til the end, though. Maybe I was just tired. It deals with how serial killers from slasher movies can't even stop killing or ever die no matter what and how boring that kind of life must be. And his name is Jackson, like Jason. Very clever. But I thought it was worth watching and there are some really funny parts. The person who mentioned it was like Toxic Avenger was very right. I'm surprised Troma hasn't picked this up. I didn't quite understand the whole father figure dude. What did he have to do with the movie and why was he a bum? I liked the blind woman, she was pretty cool. I never thought about how blind people don't have to turn on lights... hmmmm

Oh well, at least the gore is good.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 8 April 2012]

Jackson (Gregory Cox) is a disfigured maniac genetically driven to mutilate and kill; misunderstood and feared, he hides his ugly face behind a hockey mask. But Jackson also has a sensitive side to his nature, one that he is finally able to express when he meets blind beauty Shelly (Fiona Evans) during one of his massacres. Unable to see his hideous features, Shelly is drawn to Jackson's existential torment, and the two begin a tender love affair. But for how long can Jackson suppress his urge to kill?

Unmasked Pt 25 veers so wildly between brutal violence, emotional drama, and seemingly humorous moments that the true intent of director Anders Palm is never absolute: is the monster's inner turmoil supposed to be satirical or serious? Are we supposed to be amused or horrified? The plot alludes to the classic monster movies of the Universal era as well as spoofing contemporary slashers, but to what avail? Try as I might, I just couldn't figure it all out; I even considered the possibility of the schizophrenic approach having been devised to reflect the duality of Jackson's personality, but this hypothesis seemed unlikely, crap movie-making being a far more plausible reason.

Eventually, I gave up with the wild conjecture to try and explain the madness I was seeing, and ended up simply enjoying the whole thing for the incredible WTF factor, the gratuitous nudity, the dreadful late 80s London fashion disasters, and the outrageous and inventive gore, of which there is plenty, and most of which is surprisingly well handled. When all else confuses, a lampstand through the skull will always make me smile.

The best satire of gore & slasher films ever made...

[devlocke · 17 September 1999]

This movie is a masterpiece - I can't believe it's not at LEAST a cult classic. It laughs at Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, all those "5 Teens in a house w/ a madman" movies, and that's just for starters. If you like this kind of humor (the European caustic, sarcasm kind, as seen in Cemetery Man, to name another great movie) you will absolutely LOVE this movie. Beautifully bad acting (intentionally so), some of the wittiest dialog I've ever seen, GREAT characters... from the basic concept of this film, all the way to the final implementation, this film is BRILLIANT! Check it out! Recommend it to all your friends! It's great, and NO ONE has ever heard of it...

I liked it....!

[youpacking · 7/10 · 4 September 2006]

From reviews and comments I have read about this film I see that not many people rate it. I however beg to differ. This a fantastic film that puts a new light on the normally one dimensional stalk and slash killer. Get your mates round, buy some beer and prepare yourself for something fresh.

The gore is spectacular and Jackson even shows his face. Think Braindead or Bad Taste or even the Troma movies. They are in no way meant to be taken seriously but to this day still rank up there as some of the finest horror movies ever made. I recommend this highly, although watch it with your tongue firmly in your cheek.

Memorable - but not necessarily because it's good

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 3/10 · 11 January 2005]

In the first and most memorable scene in this movie, 'Jackson', while wearing a hockey mask and meandering around the streets of London one night, and grabs a guy from behind and peels back the flesh from his face and then punches a hole into the guy's chest and then rips out his heart. Then, in the first of several changes in tone, we get annoying attempts at humour, where Jackson tries on cowboy hats in a store while still wearing his hockey mask, a cornball sequence where he and his blind girlfriend go for a stroll on the beach one evening at sunset, while Jackson is still wearing his hockey mask(!) - is this supposed to be a comedy or a soap opera love story now? The movie changes tone drastically (again) and we plod through over a half an hour of crap about him and his blind girlfriend and their relationship problems, with Jackson walking around their bedroom wearing a pair of red underwear with 'Bad Boy' printed on them. *groan* Towards the end we get a couple more semi gory killings, before Jackson collapses crying and screaming "No! No! No!" after seeing a marquee at a local movie theatre which reads "Coming soon: 'Unmasked part 26'" hinting that he still will never be able to stop killing, no matter how much he may want to, because the producers will keep bringing him back again and again in more sequels.

That joke about the marquee listing the title of the next supposed sequel being called 'Unmasked part 26' probably didn't make sense in the alternate version called 'Hand of Death' either, and it does make for a really anticlimactic (and abrupt) ending. This looks like home movies filmed on the streets in and around London on a pocket change budget in a few days time, while it might have had a valid point about the unoriginality of Hollywood, it was mostly brought down by the nonexistent budget and the dramatic changes in tone throughout the movie. It just ends up looking like a hybrid between horror, soap opera romance, and the kind of diffused look of a soft core porno video. It's one of the most memorable flicks you're ever going to see, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's good.

** out of ****

worth watching for the gore effects

[trashgang · 6/10 · 25 April 2012]

In Germany this flick is available uncut on the XT label. But this flick lays in the public domain so I guess it just will be a VHS rip. It's quit a rare flick to watch. And many people will stop watching this because after some nasty killings this flick turns into a romantic flick until the final were gore galore.

This was the first film of director Anders Palm, but he surely knew how to film this. It reminded me a bit of the way Peter Jackson filmed his early gore flicks. The biggest name in this flick will be Adrian Hough who made it into Underworld Evolution (2006), X-men The Last Stand (2006) and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011) followed by Gregory Cox seen in X-men First Class (2011). The female lead was by Fiona Evans who only did one flick.

the beginning of this flick starts really gory with a face being teared apart up to the skull, but even that wasn't enough, seeing is believing. The killings go further until Jackson (Gregory Cox) ran into Shelly (Fiona Evans). From there this flick really falls down into a pure romantic flick. And it goes on and on for almost up to the end of this flick. In between Jackson ran into situations he couldn't understand why people do react towards him. I was thinking, what is the fuss about but you really have to sit through the romantic shite until the final.

Cheap flick with excellent effects that are really gory. It also has some man and female nudity. Surely one to pick up, uncut of course.

Gore 3/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Love is blind and hideously deformed.

[Coventry · 4/10 · 9 November 2010]

"Unmasked Part 25", as you can perhaps already derive from the rather delirious title, is a horror/slasher parody. Contrary to what you might think, they existed long before "Scary Movie" and the were particularly popular during the early eighties, with reasonably decent outings like "Student Bodies", "Wacko", "Pandemonium" and "Class Reunion". This particular film, which is obscure and virtually impossible to find, is a late 80's effort and tries very hard to spoof the typically derivative slashers (and its sequels) with motiveless killers, dim-witted teen characters, gratuitous gore and non-existent plots. Jackson, wearing either a hockey mask or nasty old bandages, is a fatigue serial killer with a horribly deformed face and a hatred towards the entire world. During the random massacre of a group of teenagers, he falls for the charms of a blind girl. Since she can't see his hideous appearance, she's the first person who shows an interest in his persona. Suddenly Jackson isn't interested in killing anymore, but can he really quit the business when there are so many idiots, thugs and abusive fathers running loose? The sexual escapades of blind beauty and the deformed beast are tasteless and most of the dialogs (which cover about 90% of the film) are downright embarrassing. Still, the killing sequences are immensely gross and awesome. In fact, the kills are more inventive and bloody than the ones featuring in the films that "Unmasked Part 25" attempts to spoof. Great make-up effects and hidden potential in the script really makes you regret that they didn't take this production a tad bit more serious.

Oh man...

[pusterummet · 8/10 · 8 March 2017]

Well "many years ago" we used to rent cheap movies every Tuesday as they were about 10 Dkr (2 us dollars) each. We saw a lot of bad movies and some brilliant ones. One of them was Unmasked. Or "Hand of death" as it was called here. Took me ages to find it under the real title. It is so bad that it is kind of fun. When he ends up with that blind girl and is pretty upset with her "sexual preferences".. but has no problem with killing people.. had us in stitches.

This "movie" is perfect for killing some time with a few friends and some beer..

I'm speechless

[polysicsarebest · 10/10 · 3 October 2004]

I've seen way, way, WAY too many B-Movies. I've seen all kinds: Gore films with the worst production values ever, so-bad-they're-good films shot on home videos, and films where the entire film crew was probably on some mind-altering substance during the entire production. However, no film can compare to this film. It's not that the director is throwing a bunch of random weird moments at you. No, not at all -- there aren't a lot of things going on in this movie, in particular. But what IS here is just so completely left-field in the way they handled it. I guess it's hard to describe without you actually seeing the film, but imagine combining your Hugh Grant romance movie with Bloodsucking Freaks or something, and you will probably get an idea of what this is about.

Case in point, the movie opens with the GORIEST OPENING DEATH SCENE EVER! The killer rips a guy's face off and then punches through his chest and takes out his heart! This scene just shocked me to no end, and I kept rewinding it to make sure I just witnessed what I thought I witnessed. So, already, 4 minutes or so into the movie, I just witnessed the goriest opening death scene in history, and I'd like to think that the creators of this film would take this element even further in the movie. Well, that doesn't really happen. You see, the killer then proceeds to kill people in less gory ways... and... then the film spends about 40 minutes detailing his love life with a blind woman.

And the love life with the blind woman involves a man who sort of resembles the Toxic Avenger wearing "sexy clothes" like silk red boxers and stuff and making really awkward love to the blind woman. Then, they walk on the beach and discuss life. THEN, just when you forgot that this is a horror movie, more killing! And the killing's kind of pick back up (it's almost as if they used all their budget on the first scene and didn't have any money left to do any more killing for a few weeks, so they just spent those weeks filming the love scenes crap), and the last killing is by far one of the most mean-spirited things I've ever seen (spoilers, if you care): The killer slits his blind girlfriend's throat for no apparent reason right after she says "I love you" and then she screams, "NO, NO, NOOOOOOO." It's quite mean. Quite. (no more spoilers)

The back of the box says that this is supposed to be a spoof, but -- besides the fact that the main killer, "Jackson", is wearing a hockey mask and the title has a "part 25" in it -- you couldn't really tell that from the movie. Probably the weirdest film ever.

Unmasked part 25 is a wildly uneven film to say the least

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 18 January 2018]

I wonder, quite often, why hasn't there been a new Friday the 13th for nearly 9 years? Then I watched every single one of the films, back to back to back (and back) and I can tell you that they're endless repetitive movies that ended up relying on gimmicks to get by. Is there a new idea that can make them fresh (yes, there is Hollywood, comment right here to get my ideas)? Has anyone even asked Jason Vorhees if he even wants to come back?

Unmasked part 25 is all about Jackson, a serial killing maniac with a hockey mask who is tired of killing. He can't even remember why he started killing, other than a horrible childhood that he feels absolves himself of all guilt. Nothing makes sense until he meets Shelly, a blind girl who makes him see that there can be more to life than ripping out peoples' hearts.

The world knows so much about Jackson's life that his murders have been filmed in a series of films called Unmasked (or Hand of Death, if you're watching the film's other title. This makes no sense when we get to the marquee at the end, but I doubt they had the budget to film that scene twice.). His father was a killer too, one who could have been the world's greatest if only he had the heart to kill his wife and son. Instead, they moved to America, where Jackson was believed dead after drowning at a summer camp (if you didn't get the reference, this is so not the film for you). Now, he lives with his drunkard of a father who constantly laments the days when he was a killing machine and how bad of a son he has.

Shelly offers an escape - as a blind woman, she can't see his scarred face. She even understands his need to wear a mask at all times. In fact, she blindly - pardon the pun - understands everything that Jackson throws at her.

At times, like when Shelly is trying to introduce Jackson (clad in red boxers with "bad boy" written on the ass) to BDSM, it's played like a broad comedy. At other times, such as when he reads her Byron or talks about how everyone wearing a mask at Halloween angers him, it reaches a grimy paw at the heartstrings. And there are also moments - like when Jackson literally tears a man's face off (played by Christian Brando, whose ill-fated life could have been a horror movie) - it's a straight-up slasher movie with more than decent special effects.

Once Jackson learns that Shelly is pregnant with his child and that the more time he spends around normal people, the more he wants to kill. As the film spirals to its downbeat ending, the masked killer learns that he can never walk away from his fate, not when there's an Unmasked part 26 on the marquee.

Unmasked part 25 has some moments that made me cringe - the BDSM scene is played for laughs and Jackson can't understand why his partner would enjoy sex and roughness together, yet he can only be aroused after killing. It's an oversimplification of a much more complicated mindset, but then again, you don't watch gore movies for subtext, right? But it's also way better than you'd expect, attempting to tie the murders of a masked maniac to the real world. It's also never been released on DVD, so if you want it, you're going to have to search iOffer or eBay.

great! one of the best slashers out there!

[zombietackle · 10/10 · 25 November 2010]

wow, out of all the movies with cool names, this one takes the cake, and eats it to. not only does this have one of the best movie names ever, its one of the best slashers too! the film is about Jackson, a slasher who is following in his fathers footsteps by stalking and killing people, he even has his own movie made about him! after killing off another batch of drunk people, he meets Shelly, a beautiful blind woman who can see (or not see) past his disfigured face. the hook up but when Jackson sees he cannot stop killing he is torn between his love life with Shelly and killing. the film has some very good effects for its budget and if you a fan of romance this movie has it share of touching moments, Jackson is played by Gregory cox, who does a great job in the role, and Fiona Evans is really good as Shelly. give this a watch if your a fan of horror, romance or comedy, because this has it all and does a fine job with it! my score: 10 out of 10

Stay away from R rated version.

[zmoviefan · 28 September 2005]

I rented this movie a while ago and I really liked it. To my surprise I saw a copy for sale and bought yesterday. Just watched it and well, I was super disappointed. It was totally cut missing most of the gore, male/female frontal nudity and violence. I was so mad.

+Stay away from the box that says rated R+

Anyway, the movie is funny and you gotta love the clothes these people wear. The accents somethings get to you, but other than that it is a lot of fun to watch.

This is sort of a Friday the 13th comedy. The killer even wears a hockey mask!

One of the most effective genre-benders ever made...

[FirstBlood1982 · 8/10 · 26 September 2021]

Set in London...A horribly disfigured, Jason-esque serial killer (named Jackson) scarred (literally and figuratively) by a traumatized childhood develops a romantic relationship with an attractive, blind would be victim that causes him to reconsider his life of murder and aspire for something deeper.

One of the best genre-benders that balances the incredibly difficult task of being highly effective as a hardcore gory slasher, an offbeat dark comedy, and a tragic love story.

As good as satire gets using its meta style to explore both the horror genre and the idea of inescapable fate in a way that's as thought provoking as it is amusing. 👍🏻

Enjoyable horror comedy

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 1 November 2019]

Lonesome disfigured psycho serial killer Jackson (a fine and likeable performance by Gregory Cox) starts to question the meaning of his grim existence. Jackson gets a new lease on life after he meets and falls in love with nice young blind woman Shelly (an appealing portrayal by the attractive Fiona Evans).

Director Anders Palm and writer Mark Cutforth poke wickedly witty fun at various tried'n'true shopworn slasher clichés, maintain an engaging tongue-in-cheek tone throughout, deliver a handy helping of gloriously excessive outrageous gore along with a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity, and even manage to incorporate a genuinely charming love story into the core of the narrative. This film's key triumph is the surprisingly adept way it succeeds in presenting Jackson as a poignant and sympathetic all-too-human "monster" complete with a devastating tragic ending. John de Borman's slick cinematography provides a pleasing polished look. A real hoot.

Holy moly!

[jellopuke · 9/10 · 13 June 2021]

Jason dating a blind girl while doubt if he should still be mass killing. It's totally dry British comedy but it's super funny and actually takes its jokes premise and thinks it through. Extreme gore and some genuinely funny stuff BUT I can see this not being for everyone. It's not a spoof or slapstick, it's dark comedy satire. But holy moly, it's great if you're into what it's selling. Like SUPER great.

The Thinking-Person's Friday the 13th

[ithearod · 10/10 · 11 October 2005]

This film truly is an underserved masterpiece. It is not a "comedy", as so many are saying, this is *satire*, which is a completely different thing. It takes something real (the slasher genre) and spins it around until it means something, and forces you to think about what exactly that something is.

***MINOR spoilers in this review***

People who have mentioned the really gory opening kill scene as being shocking are absolutely correct, and not in the least because it is so unexpected. This scene is important because it lets us know that this movie will take its job of giving us a slasher flick very seriously - it won't skimp on the gore.

The movie develops as a typical slasher flick, but them takes its satirical turn - it lets us into the world of the slasher. We actually *meet* "Jackson" (nice turn on "Jason", indeed), hear him speak, hear his thoughts, and learn what kind of a person he is - because he is, after all, still a person, even if a monstrous and supernatural one.

Then, the major plot contrivance - we see him fall in love with a blind woman. Here the whole history of monster movies comes alive for us - here is your thinking-man's Friday the 13th. Echoes of Frankenstein and the blind host, King Kong and Fay Wray, and any monster that ever was charmed and tamed by beauty and innocence.

The Jackson character is revealed and developed in ways you could never even imagine - **this is the film's genius**. Don't be put off by people who call this "corny", it is not corny, because it is not meant to be taken at face value. Here is the satire, that a monster, one we have never known, (indeed could never have known, because he's a monster, after all!), being tamed and controlled in wonderful ways. There is actually poetry-reading by the slasher in this film! You will see Jackson read Lord Byron!! Prepere to be stunned! And of course it has its necessary, and quite nicely philosophical ending, when the movie contemplates the true nature of monsters, and shows us that monsters are monsters, and will always be monsters, regardless. A bitter ending.

Still not satisfied with this tour de force, the movie throws a tiny little existentialist coda at our feet in the closing scene, when even the monster is forced to confront his own unlikely existence, and we as moviegoers also must confront our complicity in the act of making the monster. You will see what I mean.

Overall, a superb film, more like literature for our modern age, than anything you have seen before. If the idea of engaging your higher intellect as you satisfy your base and carnal desires for violence appeals to you, do yourself a favor and see this movie, and don't forget to recommend it to your friends. I still cannot believe this movie does not have the cult status it deserves.

gory and fun

[hamburger · 10 September 2001]

I don't see how anyone can NOT like this movie! It's totally hilarious. Think of a witty, British copycat of Friday the 13th, maxed out with gore and you have Unmasked Part 25 - probably the best slasher spoof I've seen since 1981's Student Bodies. The story concerns a young man named Jackson who begins to question his life as a murderer. Jackson takes out a bunch of 20 somethings in the beginning of the film when they crash an abandoned house to party in. The first murder is very over-the-top...he pulls out some guy's heart and rips his face open. More delicious murders follow. He meets a blind woman who doesn't know how horribly disfigured he is, nor does she realize he just offed most everyone at the party. The two of them become involved and move in together. He feels guilty as he continues his life of murder and loves his girlfriend, but at the same time it seems he cannot stop. The climax is pretty unnerving and suspenseful ending in a most bleak scene where he slashes his own girlfriend's throat.

Better than any of the Friday the 13th films so give it a look.

A hidden gem!

[SlashedProductions · 8/10 · 6 April 2023]

Unmasked Part 25 is a little known oddball horror/parody from 1988. I don't see it having a wide appeal, even to some horror fans. The film has a very wonky tone, leaving me unsure if a joke was happening or not. Regardless, the film is very earnest, creating good character development for our leads. While the plot is quite ridiculous, you end up rooting for our leads Jackson and Shelly. For the right audience (like myself) this could be a hidden gem. Therefore I highly recommend giving this a watch, if you can find it. It's a great time, gory and incredibly fun!

The film looks wonderful on the Blu-ray release by Vinegar Syndrome.

ok movie

[Chainsaw Slasher · 8 July 2002]

Its an ok film, but must only be viewed by lovers of the horror genre. Deaths couldve been better. The british of the film kind of gets annoyin, but its ok. It's also slow paced, not enough slashings and i dont find it all that satiricle. Very similar to the film the Toxic Avenger in certain ways.

Different type of slasher movie that I have seen.

[HorrorDisasterGuy-90617 · 8/10 · 29 December 2023]

This is an interesting type of slasher movie that I have seen. The opening does a good job with it starting as a slasher movie with him killing parry guests in creative ways. But when he encounters a blind woman, things start to change in an interesting way. I do think it's funny how when he first speaks, he speaks like a regular man. The relationship between Jackson and Shelly is pretty good with their disadvantages and the conversation between them. It also leads to some humor that is a hit or miss for me. The middle part is him trying not to kill anymore and try to live a normal life, but he fails at it because he is still a killer. It also makes the relationship between Shelly pretty sad and how it ends. The climax is what you expect from a slasher movie with he going on a rampage and killing another group of party goers. And I like how the movie ends.

Making fun of gore

[lor_ · 1 April 2023]

My review was written in March 1989 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

This British horror spoof (going direct to video Stateside) is on target with its script's satirical barbs, but is not well realized as a feature. Gore content of unrated version marks it for a specialty audience.

Filmmakers Anders Palm and Mark Cutforth are poking fun at the endless string of imitative Yank shriekers such as "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" series that substitute cliches for creativity.

Antihero Gregory Cox wear a Jason-esque goalie's mask and is given to slaughtering people in gruesome fashion until he meets kindly but kinky blind girl Fiona Evans. She befriends him and beds him, even getting him to remove his mask, revealing a hideously deformed (but subpar makeup effects) face.

In striving for black humor, pic gets bogged down in some silliness, tastelessness and pretentious writing. Reflexive material as folks recognize he hero "from his movies" is overdone, climaxing with him aghast at a theater marquee hawking the 26th film in the series. Yucky gore doesn't sit well with what is basically an intellectual exercise.