Review of "Club Dread" (2004) DVD

Release date: May 25, 2004

At Club Dread (yes, Club Med tried to sue Fox Searchlight) a drug, alcohol, and sex-drenched island resort off the coast of Costa Rica, the party's over when a machete-wielding serial killer shows up and starts killing sexy singles. The club's staff (the Broken Lizard troupe who made "Super Troopers") to try to stop the bloodshed and hilarity ensues. Or, it's supposed to.

A cross between Clue, Friday the 13th, Scream, and M-TV's Spring Break, Club Dread is an unfunny script valiantly held aloft by good actors (including Bill Paxton as Coconut Pete, the proprietor; and director and co-writer Jay Chandrasekhar as an abundantly dreadlocked Caribbean with a contrived British accent) doing their best on what amounts to a sinking ship.

As more people die at the blade of the machete, the camp staffers have to try and figure out who it could be. Is it Coconut Pete, the washed-up, Jimmy Buffett-style singer who's been reduced to singing campfire songs? Is it Machete Phil, a former island guest whose removal of a certain body part has left him with an ax to grind? Is it one of the staffers themselves, hiding a deep, dark secret?

The killings are indeed bloody and gruesome, but appropriately fake and comedic. If you're looking for horror you might enjoy this, but if you're looking for anything other than low, low, low-brow comedy, forget it.

Additional release material includes audio commentaries from Chandrasekhar and assorted Broken Lizard Troupe stars.

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com