SCARED SHITLESS
Starring: Steven Ogg, Daniel Doheny, Chelsea Clark, Mark McKinney, Marcia Bennett, and Julian Richings
Director: Vivieno Caldinelli
QUENTIN
When you have a movie about a plumber saving people from a genetically engineered, blood-thirsty creature that is living in a building’s plumbing system — and it has a puntastic title like Scared Shitless — you have a certain expectation. Thankfully, director Vivieno Caldinelli and the entire cast, but especially Steven Ogg, understood the assignment. This is a hilarious and bonkers throwback to 80s movies like Critters, but it’s done so skillfully that it belies its apparent Midnight Madness, B-movie inspirations. Full disclosure: I saw a 10:45pm showing of Scared Shitless after more than a few beers, and for maximum fun, I highly recommend you do the same.
ROBERT
I think the elevator pitch for Scared Shitless is obvious: Tremors on the toilet. You must respect a movie that imbues such 80s, B-monster movie energy into its DNA and gives credit to the tradesmen of the world by making our heroes plumbers. I have only ever seen Steven Ogg play a crazed side character whose alignment always skews evil, so to see him headline a movie as the protagonist was a welcome change of pace too. There isn’t a second wasted in Shitless’ 76-minute runtime, resulting in a nostalgia trip that never defecates on itself in its execution.
KATIE
With a title like Scared Shitless, you go in with your expectations adjusted for silly, bloody, B-movie fun, and thankfully, the film does exactly what it says on the tin. The cast is great, and Steven Ogg is hilarious playing the role of the passionate plumber Don. I sometimes struggle with gross humour, but I found it genuinely funny here, and the over-the-top, gory practical effects are ridiculously entertaining. However, the concept only has so much momentum, and even at a short 76-minute runtime, it becomes slightly tedious towards the end. But, overall, I had a surprisingly good time.
