ironhorse_iv Review of Ernest Scared Stupid

Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)

Hey Vern! This Ernest movie was indeed kinda stupid. Still, it was kinda funny.

[5/10 · 25 October 2013]

Sorry, but in my opinion, this movie really falls flat as a good Ernest P. Worrell's movie. After this film, you can truly see the Ernest's movies going downhill to the point, that it went to Straight to video releases rather than showing it at theaters. It was 1993's Ernest Ride Again, that really tank the franchise. Ernest Scared Stupid was indeed, not the best one, but not the worst as other films devalue the character, then up the charm. I was a fan of Ernest (played by late Jim Varney) when growing up in the mid 1990's, so I watched a majority of the movies that he starred in. I didn't watch much of his commercials or television works, but as a child, I kinda like this movie, but as an adult looking back. It was pretty mediocre. Still, I do have some love left in me for these types of movies. The movie may be look dated now, but they're still fairly entertaining. Directed by John Cherry, and written by Coke Sams, the plot in Scared Stupid is pretty simple. After all, it's was made by two normal guys that happen to remind me of a soda, I used to drink a lot. In the film, Ernest currently working as a town's apparent sole garbage man who has befriended several middle-school aged kids who wanted to build a tree house. I don't know why a middle age garage man is hanging out with kids without their parents knowing, but what-ever. Long before he was born, Ernest's ancestor, a local reverend, helped imprison an evil troll under an oak tree who had been kidnapping local children to increase his power. The troll, before being officially imprisoned, placed a curse on Ernest's ancestor holding that one day he would escape through one of his descendants, as well each of his descendants would become dumber and dumber. Now the evil 19th century toll, Trantor has awoken and start to turn the children of the town into wooden dolls so that he can reanimated his troll army. Ernest with his trusted dog, Rimshot (By the way, an awful name for a dog, sounds more like a sexual slang), some high-spirited neighborhood kids, and the advice of the mysterious "Old Lady" Hackmore (Eartha Kitt) must stop an evil Trantor from ruining Halloween for good. The bad thing about this plot, Ernest is one who stupidly release him from his slumber at a sacred tree prison. So when you think about it, Ernest pretty much; cause the horror that would besieged the town folks. Are we supposed to think of him as the hero? He's more like Jar Jar Binks. An annoying character that makes things worse than better, most of the film. There was some over the top humor in this film. Most of them were a miss rather than a hit for me. I barely laugh at the film as a kid, but I did like the Miak and the 4th grade joke, even today. Jim Varney is still likable as Ernest and a lot of his other familiar characters appear in this film as well. Sadly, Gailard Sartain isn't in the movie as Chuck, John Cadenhead does a fair job. Still, Bobby (Bill Bryge) is there, but they pretty much get minors roles here with little to no screen time. By the way, where was Vern in this film? The kid actors in this are so dull, and bad that they barely saw any other films than this. Even in the opening scene, a kid actor is smiling rather acting scare that kinda ruin the mood of the film. Eartha Kitt was pretty odd choice because I have only saw her playing sexy roles previous to this. She did a good job in the role, but I have to question if she was acting or not. It sounds to me that she really did go nuts after 1960's Batman. I have to say, Catwoman really flow over the cuckoo nest and now reminds me of Cat-Lady from the Simpsons. She hasn't aged well. The look of Trantor is somewhat scary, and I have to give the costume department some props, but the visual special effects of this movie was pretty bad. By bad, I meant it was pretty much recycle from 1988's movie, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, such as designs for a few of the trolls and manner of deaths. You would think the Chiodo Brothers, who did the effects for this film, would do something new. The only way to kill the trolls is with unconditional love seems a bit good feel cheesy for me. I like the film opening credits, feature a montage of clips from various horror and science fiction films. Some of them made me wish I was watching them than this, like Nosferatu (1922), and White Zombie (1932). I don't know about the others. Phantom from Space (1953), The Brain from Planet Arous (1957), The Screaming Skull (1958), Missile to the Moon (1958), The Hideous Sun Demon (1959), The Giant Gila Monster (1959), The Killer Shrews (1959), Battle Beyond the Sun, and the Roger Corman-directed black comedy The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). The production values are pretty weak. There are multiples scenes where you can see a crew member's body part coming into the shot. Overall: It's still fairly entertaining to watch and safe to watch for the whole family, especially during Halloween. It just fall flat in parts and so far the weakest of the theatrically released Ernest films, being neither that funny nor scary where it need to be. Ernest Scared Stupid is a very enjoyable movie and a must see for all long-time Ernest fans. So gather some a glass of Miak and get watching.