Movie Review: The Menu

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A delightfully disturbing and entertaining horror comedy. 

As this film starts off, it feels like a typical horror or suspense movie. A group of people are travel to an island for a few days of cooking from a brilliant but eccentric chef, but once they get to the island, the audience can immediately feel that something is off and sinister about this place. This is a wonderful setup that perfectly prepares us to feel uneasy. However, it doesn't fully prepare us for what follows. What follows is a wonderful mixture of dark comedy, suspense and horror. We never know at any second what is going to happen next. It could be something funny, disturbing or both. This honestly creates a greater sense of unease than a regular suspense film would have. Along with the scenes that make us laugh and the scenes that give us the creeps, there are also scenes that leave us unable to know whether to laugh or be repelled by what we are seeing. These scenes are often set up like a joke, but the punch line is very disturbing. It is these scenes that are frankly the most effective because they catch us completely off guard and leave us grappling with our own emotions and our understanding of what type of film this is. Because of this they were firmly stay in our minds long after the end credits roll. The humor in this movie is often very dark and over the top. Because of this, the humor is not for everybody, but for me I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit, while feeling uneasy about having laughed at such a dark moment right after I finished. Yet despite all the comedy in this film, the creepy parts are still legitimately creepy, and this could have been made as a normal horror movie, if the filmmakers so desired. Many of the characters here may be stereotypes but they actually perfectly for what type of movie this is. Even the most stereotyped characters have a reason to be that way, as that helps set much of the plot in motion. If these characters were more fleshed out and less stereotypical, many of the story points would not work as well. The exceptions to these one-dimensional characters are our heroine and our villain. However, both of them have a reason to be that way as well. The heroine offers us someone to root for and relate to. Because of her presence we can place ourselves in the story. The villain being a more complex character gives us an understanding of what would drive him this far and why he would go to such great length. Sure it is still a very over the top plan, but that is simply part of the charm of this film. Everything leads up to a simply brilliant ending that made me laugh out loud while simultaneously have shivers sent down my spine. 

If I had one complait about this movie, it is that the message can often be very unsubtle and in your face. However this is a small price to pay for how great the rest of this film is. 

This may not be a movie for everyone, but I simply loved it.