Suburban Gothic
Written by Richard Bates Jr. and Mark Bruner
Directed by Richard Bates Jr.
USA, 2015
What makes a film a cult hit? Usually it’s a combination of an underground fan base, a kitschy premise or execution, a deeply engaging cast – either due to immeasurable talent, or a complete lack thereof. Most significantly, it requires the passage of time. Cult hits don’t form overnight. Their status takes time to germinate. Yet now we find ourselves in a time where manufacturing Cult is in. Suburban Gothic is a great example of this transition. Packed with cult icons, dripping with pulp imagery and texture, and littered with pithy one-liners, Suburban Gothic is an entertaining horror-comedy more intent on appearing Cult than trying to create a memorable piece of cinema.
The film centers on Raymond (Matthew Grey Gubler), a business-school grad who’s been forced to move back home to suburbia due to unreliable employment rates. Once back with his overbearing Mom (Barbara Niven) and meathead Dad (Ray Wise), Raymond finds himself tormented by a restless spirit. He teams up with former classmate-turned-bartender, Becca (Kat Dennings), to discover the cause of their torment, and put restless spirits to bed.
Richard Bates Jr. and Mark Bruner have created an vaguely entertaining and funny flick. However, its enjoyment is marred by its irreverently sardonic tone. The majority of the film feels so preoccupied with fitting into a specific style that it alienates its audience. It’s as if you’re at a party full of old friends telling in-jokes, and no one bothers to make sure you’re feeling included.
The inclusion of cult icons such as John Waters as a flamboyant funeral director, Ray Wise as Raymond’s dysfunctional father, and Jeffrey Combs as a raging doctor comes off as a who’s who of name-dropping cameos with minimal payoff. There’s little to gain from watching Waters reject Dennings’ fellatio proposal, or hearing Combs’ Dr. Carpenter rant in the vein of Herbert West. It comes across as clunky and overbearing rather than clever and aptly referential. These men do nothing but play poorly constructed caricatures of themselves. Bates and Bruner are clearly happy to have such talent agree to be in their film. However, they should have created better characters for them to play instead of patting themselves on the back for including them in the first place.
While cameos felt forced, special effects felt rough due predominantly to a microscopic budget. They attempt to pass this off as a new-age pulp appreciation, but it translates on screen as a moderately happy accident.
The script, unfortunately, doesn’t elevate the film above these otherwise easily overlooked limitations. The story is thin, and at times meandering. It looses you as often as it makes you laugh, rendering any impact of humor or fright obsolete. Scares are swiftly followed by a nosedive in pace, and Dennings’ penchant for deadpan deliveries is largely overlooked as it becomes obvious she’s reiterating different versions of the same joke ad nausea.
Suburban Gothic is ambitious in as much as you can see where Bates and Bruner want it to go; it looks like manufactured Cult. They’ve cast two wildly appealing leads who hold a great deal of sway with an underground scene. They added in cameos from legends of cult cinema. They shot everything in as pulpy a tone as humanly possible, and attempted to create a script that was effortlessly funny and didn’t take itself too seriously. Unfortunately, it just feels like little effort went into it at all, and it takes itself much too seriously.
Suburban Gothic is so preoccupied with its own cool factor that it forgot to substantiate itself. The groundwork is all there for a solid, enjoyable film. But instead of creating a deeply engaging story, interesting characters, or thrilling chills, emphasis was placed on elements that will only garner hollow attention. Ultimately, you can’t reduce what makes a cult hit into a science. There is no science. Only time and luck. It’s like petitioning to be the coolest kid in school; it never ends up well.