The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto (2009/Anchor Bay DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Feature: C
Rob
Zombie is not a man known for his good taste.
Case in point: The Haunted World
of El Superbeasto. This animated
spin-off of Zombie’s comic book combines the animation style of 90’s Hanna
Barbara cartoons like Cow and Chicken
and I Am Weasel with copious amounts
of over-the-top sex, nudity, and violence.
That said, there’s almost a perverse charm to the bad humor and
ultra-self-referentiality.
El
Superbeasto boasts an impressive array of celebrity voice talent including
Sheri Moon Zombie, Rosario Dawson, Paul Giamatti, Brian Posehn (you’d recognize
him if you saw him), Ken Foree, Bill Moseley, Danny Trejo, Harland Williams,
Sid Haig, and scream queen Dee Wallace.
Beasto himself is a self-important, crime fighting, B-list celebrity
luchador who, in pursuit of stripper Velvet Von Black, butts heads with Dr.
Satan in his attempt to attain “all the sudsy powers of Hell.”
The film
is chock full of horror and other pop culture references, which are outnumbered
only by instances of nudity and increasingly creative violence and
profanity. El Superbeasto is probably
inappropriate for audiences of any age, but certainly not for anyone under 18.
The
picture, in 1.78:1 widescreen format, is good but not stunning. The same applies to the audio, in Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround. Anchor Bay
put this on Blu-ray, but one could only imagine that with little improvement
from this. The only special features on
the disc are deleted and alternate scenes.
The Haunted World of El
Superbeasto is
recommended for horror fans and enthusiasts of the strange and perverse, but
anyone who’s at all easily offended would be well advised to stay away.
- Matthew Carrick
