Rabid Grannies

Rabid Grannies (Les MemesCannibales) (1988)

Runtime: I saw an uncut 91 minute version

Directed by: Emmanuel Kerwyn

Starring: A bunch of random French people, to be frank

From: Several companies... including Troma!

Would you believe this is not the first time watching this European horror-comedy? Actually, that may not be a stunning revelation...

This is another one of those films that falls into the category of “I saw this many, many years ago but barely remember it so it might as well be a first time watch.” I mean, this was a VHS rental for me, that's how far into the past my first and only viewing was. I only remembered like two moments yet this month being one of foreign film observation and there being an uncut version that someone put together on YouTube-more on that later-meant this was the time for a second watch.

The plot seemed fine on paper: a family full of A-holes goes to a party hosted by a pair of very old ladies-who are sisters, and also very rich-and the A-holes can't wait for the grannies to die, as it meant they would all get a nice, phat inheritance. Well, the black sheep of the family (a Satanic priest!) sends them a gift, which causes the old ladies to become hideous demons, and the A-holes are all killed in brutal ways. It does sound great... only this does not rise above being OK. There are memorable moments and funny bits, but not enough of them and the family is usually annoying to be around. The fact that some overact to a tremendous degree and because these French actors speak phonetic English in an awkward way, only to be dubbed later by random British people who have to match their mouth movements... what a shock then that the dialogue is rather stilted.

I have no idea why this was the case considering that TROMA not only released it but they were one of the producers... but the version they released had much of the gore cut out. Thankfully someone on YouTube created a version where the goriest moments were added back in; for the budget, those effects look good and it's a shame they were cut out of the version most people would have seen. But that doesn't really impact my rating. I'll admit that its English title is great and as this is not American horror you shouldn't automatically assume the children will be fine... among films of its type, Braindead (i.e. Dead Alive) is much better.