Does Civilization Need Another Slasher Parody?

Rating: 5/10 (2 August 2008)

Simon Pegg is a police sergeant from London who transfers to the force of a small and beautiful English village that has virtually no crime but an extraordinarily high rate of death by accident. Pegg becomes convinced that the many bizarre accidental deaths are no accident, that there is a connection of some kind, and that they are actually homicides, but nobody in the village or on the police force believes him.
So far, this is familiar serial-killer territory. And it's supposed to be. It's a send up of every such film you've ever seen, with parodic elements of other genres thrown in for good measure. The musical score is a blitz that pounds us into insensibility. The editing is lightning fast. I don't keep track of these things but I could identify absurd rip-offs of John Woo, Sergio Leone, Disraeli Gears, Sam Pekinpah ("Straw Dogs" in particular: one man trap and one shooting-off-the-foot-by-shotgun) and I don't know how many other elements of vernacular culture. They blended into one another, sometimes not so smoothly, and not just on the screen but in my by-now befuddled long-term memory.
Oddly, the acting is pretty good. Simon Pegg has the face of everyman. Timothy Dalton is splendid showing the hidden menace in his crocodile smile. And the dialog shows a good deal of sometimes keen wit. In the midst of the inevitable bloody, climactic shoot out, the local minister emerges from his church, his arms outspread, trembling and appealing for peace and love instead of all this violence. Rejected, he exclaims, "Oh, **** off, then," draws two pistols and begins shooting.
I don't know. I guess it's my problem. But the fact is that the kinds of movies this film satirizes are so dumb, so repetitive and formulaic, that they are parodies sufficient unto themselves. But if you enjoyed the originals, you'll probably get a kick out of this. It's good natured. I prefer "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," but of course it's all a matter of taste.