The AfterDark Horrorfest that rolled into select cinemas last fall showcased eight films (or ten if you were lucky) that would have otherwise gone straight to DVD and from there to the discount bins at thousands of video stores across the country. While a few of the films (“Gravedancers” and “The Hamilitons,” especially) deserved the attention bestowed upon them, most did not. “Penny Dreadful” was one that didn’t deserve the exposure. While not nearly as annoying or formulaic as some of the other Horrorfest entries (“Wicked Little Things” and “Unrest”), it still couldn’t decide what kind of film it wanted to be. At times “Penny” aspired to be an over-the-top gonzo slasher film and then it takes a left turn and becomes a serious, momentum-building thriller. “Penny Dreadful’s” inability to find a voice and stick with it hurts the film immensely and ultimately helps the film land in the bargain bin it was destined for in the first place.
As a toddler, young Penny and her parents were involved in a gruesome and tragic car accident. Her father was thrown from the car and died immediately, while Penny still strapped into her car seat watched her mother bleed and die before her tiny little eyes. Appropriately traumatized by this incident, Penny avoided cars her entire life. Now in her late teens, Penny has enlisted the aid of published physiatrist/therapist Orianna Volker (Mimi Rogers) to help her overcome her fears of automobiles and get on with her life. Orianna’s solution to getting Penny to put her fears behind her is to confront that which causes her such great pain, and the two set out for an evening car ride through the isolated forests of Big Bear, California.
After striking a hitchhiker standing on the side of the road at a blind curve, Orianna agrees to give the disheveled bum a ride to a campsite a few miles down the road. The hooded man climbs silently into the backseat of Orianna’s two-door car and the three head off into the night. Having the creepy bum in the backseat triggers a panic attack in Penny, leading to Orianna telling the stranger the nature of the trip, to which the hitchhiker replies with ominous silence. Eventually, the man pulls out a long shish kabob-like skewer coated in raw meat. Then, after offering some to the two women, who both politely turn it down, he begins to chomp into it, devouring the wet flesh with a loud smacking. They arrive at the abandoned campground, and their passenger exits and waves goodbye menacingly as they back away into the night. Penny demands to be let out of the car so she can get some fresh air, which leads to Penny to twisting her ankle and the discovery of the drifter’s skewer, now meatless and sticking out of one of the car’s front tires. Orianna instructs Penny to remain in the car with the doors locked and windows up while she goes in search of help. She reminds Penny to stay alert and keep an eye out for any trouble. Instead, Penny pops a couple of sleeping pills and drifts off to la-la land. When she awakens, Orianna is back in the driver’s seat, and the car has been wedged between two trees. Unable to open her door, Penny tries to get Orianna to explain what’s going on, which is hard to do considering her therapist is dead and the killer is out in the forest ready to begin a night of torture with his new caged pet, Penny.
At first “Penny Dreadful” is a fun romp that refuses to take itself too seriously, with silly incidents involving the weirdo hitchhiker and Penny’s flashbacks to her parent’s death. The film starts off as an entertaining, albeit formulaic slasher vehicle (no pun intended). But around the middle of the second act, the movie starts to take itself way too seriously, and the different tone never plays out correctly. The first half of the film is fun and lighthearted, with the feel of a slasher movie that’s willing to try a little harder to entertain its audience than flicks like “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Unfortunately, after the first few minutes Penny spends trapped in the car with her shrink’s corpse, the film takes a startlingly boring and absent-minded turn for the worse. With an ending as ill thought out as it is moronic and inapplicable title, “Penny Dreadful” never redeems itself or even seems interested enough to try.
“Penny Dreadful” borrows from several popular sub-genres of horror, with slasher flicks, siege films, and even the recently revitalized torture genre thrown in. But without anyone in the film willing to put forth even a miniscule of effort to accurately portray them, the film falls flat on its face. While “Penny” does have a couple of moments of decent gore, with the gut-spewing glory of “Dark Ride” already included in the Horrorfest, it’s hard to measure up. With below-mediocre acting by everyone involved, “Penny Dreadful” feels like an episode of “The Gilmore Girls” that crossed over with “Supernatural,” and, just like anything else found on the CW, ultimately isn’t worth watching.
4 out of 10 fogged up windows
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