Friday, September 11, 2015

My Review Of "Clinger"

"Clinger" is a coming-of-age horror comedy that centers around a girl's first love. The film is directed by Michael Steves and stars Vincent Martella, Jennifer Laporte, Julia Aks, Lisa Wilcox and Debbie Rochon. "Clinger" is a microbudget dark satire of family and friendships in the here and here-after.

Synopsis: Fern Petersen, a driven high school senior, has her life turned upside down when her overly affectionate boyfriend, Robert Klingher, dies in an embarrassing accident. When Robert returns from the dead as a love-sick ghost, he tries to reunite with Fern - only to have his heart broken. As Robert plots to kill Fern so they can be together forever, Fern will have to fight to stay in the world of the living.

"Clinger" has a pretty straight forward story with some really dark, but funny humor written into its classic boy-meets-girl prose. While the acting is decent, and the characters are somewhat developed, a lot of the moments fall flat. I am really not sure why but during the more comedic scenes either the timing, or delivery is just not strong. And yet from a contrast point of view, the scenes that are just casual character development have a natural quality and ease that really delivers Steves and Gabi Duncombe's (writer) vision. 

There are plenty of funny moments, especially during the more physical comedy scenes that are also the horror scenes. The horror comedy aspect of "Clinger" is reminiscent of recent films like "Boy Eats Girl" with its all-out "stereotyped" gag humor, but the characters themselves are a bit more witty much like the characters in classic films such as "Election" with Reese Witherspoon. "Clinger" really has some nice moments. Of course most of the moments come with the bloody, death scenes, interactions between the living and the dead-that usually ends in someone getting hurt, and a few of the actors that just own their characters.

The special effects are above par considering the budget. A lot of the stuff is CGI supported gory elements, but there is equal parts practical effects in the film too. Usually I trash films for relying on CGI to give us the horror but when a film is paranormal (ghosty) in nature I tend to find it acceptable and quite frankly necessary. Plus the effects team, and Steves balanced the CGI, practical effects nicely. And there was enough blood spray and splatter in the film to make any horror fan happy. The musical score wasn't that impressive, actually I don't think any song or sound effects sequence really stuck out to me personally. It doesn't suck-it just wasn't that impressive.  Overall "Clinger" is a horror comedy worth checking out. I enjoyed the horror elements way more than the comedy stuff, but everything balances out in this one, and the cast are really committed to their characters. 


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