The Bad Ben Series Part One

BAD BEN
(2016)
Dir - Tom Fanslou
Overall: GOOD

 
The first in a to-date fourteen deep movie franchise, (plus a short film and a video game), the initial Bad Ben is a hilarious and creepy work in found footage that acts as both a parody of and a legitimate installment in the sub-genre.  Tom Fanslau, (under the pen and screen name of Nigel Bach), shopped his concept around to potential producers with no bites and ergo decided to make it himself, shooting the entire project for only $300 in his own home.  Equipped with a cell phone, security cameras, and a couple of convincing effect shots, the DIY results are commendable in and of themselves.  Thankfully though, Bach's efforts are engrossing besides their practicality.  As the only fellow on screen, he has a shlubby charisma ala Brian Posehn while he endlessly talks to himself, poking fun at the "Why do I feel the need to document my whole life?" trope in such movies.  The subtle yet undeniable comedic angle allows for his character's behavior to be questionable in one sense, but his stubborn and humorous determination to not be driven out of his newly purchased home by unfriendly entities gives the plot just enough plausibility to work.  Best of all though, the simple and familiar set up does not get in the way of some hair-raising spookiness.

 

STEELMANVILLE ROAD

(2017)

Dir - Tom Fanslou

Overall: WOOF

 

While Nigel Bach aka Tom Fanslou is a likeable bloke and his initial Bad Ben film was one of the best micro-micro-budgeted found footage movies perhaps ever made, its follow-up Steelmanville Road, (Bad Ben: Steelmanville Road), is an almost exclusively embarrassing work.  A prequel that leads right up until when the first installment begins, it has a promising opening where a newlywed couple moves into the series' haunted abode to experience a few subtle paranormal episodes, some of which the cameras catches yet the characters do not.  Right from the get-go though, we are given some flimsy reasons for the events to be filmed in the first place, and this becomes more sloppily handled throughout, including close-ups and wide-shots being edited together from the same wall-mounted security cameras.  Yet this is only one of many blunders, since Fanslou regrettably chooses to show physical manifestations of ghosts this time in the form of a backwards talking kid in heavy eye-shadow who looks like he is right out of a nine year-old's YouTube video.  The story is a laughable cliche-fest, made much worse by atrocious acting and a need for Fanslou to explain almost every ambiguously creepy detail from the first movie.  Instead of making for some engrossing mythology, this only messes up what was already a spooky scenario.  In other words, it "fixed" something that was not broken, falling down the stairs in the process.

BADDER BEN

(2017)

Dir - Tom Fanslou

Overall: MEH

 

Three entries in and Tom Fanslou made the wise choice to lean into the more comedic angle that he displayed in his first Bad Ben installment, with Badder Ben, (Badder Ben: The Final Chapter), being more intentionally ridiculous than its awful predecessor Steelmanville Road.  It is still a mixed bag though.  This time we meet some chipper paranormal investigators who have seen the first two movies and decide to find out what all of the hullabaloo is about, bringing along Fanslou for the ride who is back to do battle unwillingly against the force or forces that have taken over his would-be flipped home.  The unsettling scare tactics are jettisoned for more of a lampoon-heavy approach where no one on screen seems to be taking things seriously, with many laugh-out-loud results along the way.  Each of the four characters, (particularly Fanslou's who has an understandably hilarious chip on his shoulder now), provide some knowingly goofy moments, plus the franchise's lore becomes officially convoluted, which is appropriate in this more lighthearted context .  Everyone also behaves like an idiot at regular intervals, the plotting is flimsy, and there are some abysmal digital effects that are not played for chuckles, but it is still an enjoyable entry that is introduced as being "for the fans" so in that respect, it is difficult to hate.