Bad Milo!

Cast of Characters:

Duncan - Ken Marino

Sarah - Gillian Jacobs

Phil - Patrick Warburton

Beatrice - Mary Kay Place

Roger - Stephen Root

Highsmith - Peter Stormare

Director - Jacob Vaughan

Screenplay - Benjamin Hayes & Jacob Vaughan

Rated R for bloody comic horror violence, and for language and some sexual content

      Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Patrick Warburton, Stephen Root and Peter Stormare star in the horror-comedy Bad Milo! ... It must've eaten Otis.

      Duncan's (Ken Marino) life is a real pain in the ass. He's tormented by his manipulative, crooked boss Phil (Patrick Warburton), his mother Beatrice (Mary Kay Place) nags him to death about, of all things, his virility, his dad Roger (Stephen Root) is a new age deadbeat, and his sweet wife Sarah keeps pressuring him about children. All these daily pressures keep mounting stress on him which starts to trigger an insufferable gastrointestinal reaction.

      Out of ideas and at the end of his rope, Duncan seeks the help of hypnotherapist Highsmith (Peter Stormare), who helps him discover the root of his unusual stomach pain: a pintsized demon living in his intestine. The creature, who's triggered by excessive anxiety, forces its way out and slaughters the people who have angered him. Out of fear that his intestinal gremlin may target its wrath on the wrong person, Duncan attempts to befriend it, naming it Milo and indulging it to keep its seemingly insatiable appetite at bay.

      All you have to do is look at the poster up above and realize this is one of those films where what you see is what you get. It's a goofy premise and everyone on board realizes that. Bad Milo! does have its moments and this has future cult classic slapped all over it; however, I still felt this film fell prey, rather hard, to one trick pony syndrome. The initial trick - Duncan shitting (or giving birth to) a mini demon out his ass - isn't that much of a knee slapper to begin with, so beating that dead horse throughout the film ain't gonna help it any. That story has a decent premise with the idea of the Milo being a metaphor for all the stress Duncan is dealing with, but writers Benjamin Hayes and Jacob Vaughan (who don't earn brownie points for sharing my first and middle name) just waste it on one kill after the other, not even bothering to make each kill creative in their own way. What made a similar, and very much milder, film Gremlins such a fun movie was that all the creatures were unique, had their own personalities, and the film had a protagonist in Gizmo that the viewer genuinely cared about. Here, by the end of the film, Hayes and Vaughan attempt to turn our minds 180 degrees on Milo by trying to make us care for the creature, but it's such a knee jerk u-turn that seems completely out of place in comparison to the rest of the film. I will give Vaughan credit for one thing. His decision to go with practical effects for the Milo character instead of just another bland CGI effect simply 'cause they have the technology to do so was a smart move. There is also some nifty camera work to make the practical effects appear as realistic as they can be. It's just a shame that the writing's as weak as it is 'cause with a clever and funnier story this could've had the potential to be a splatter cult hit a la Robert Rodriguez.

      This isn't as horrible as the other recent horror-comedy pile of crap Hell Baby, but the writing's just lazy. I'm still curious to see what Vaughan can do as a director 'cause there are some aspects about this film where his direction actually isn't that bad; in fact, it's pretty good at times. Most of the cast seems uninterested here with the exception of Peter Stormare, who seemed to have fun with material. It's clearly not meant to be taken seriously, and I do credit them for just going all out in its self-awareness, but overall, you should just pass on this movie. I give Bad Milo! a C- (★★).