directed by:
Don Swanson written by: Joe Fishel genre: Mystery, Comedy |
Let me ask you this: When was the last time you remember laughing about a movie BEFORE you pushed play or even watched a single scene through the trailers and such? Probably never, right? Well, allow me to break that unlucky streak of yours and introduce you to “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro.” Or, as you might find it called in its extended title, “The Haunting Of Prince Dom Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim.” C’mon y’all…that’s objectively funny! Director Don Swanson and Writer Joe Fishel are up to their antics yet again, it appears. In fact, you might remember how “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro” factored into the review I wrote about “Bigfoot Unleashed, Part VII” if you’re reading these pages at IndyRed on the regular. Does that Bigfoot-based film play a role in this one, you know, to keep things as meta as possible and help Swanson & Fishel build a bizarre micro-budget version of the MCU? You bet! You’ll see a preview of “Bigfoot Unleashed, Part VII” on your way to watching “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim.” I’m all about it – it’s good to reconnect with the things you love.
So in keeping that all in mind & knowing that this film is from the same people that brought us “Bigfoot Unleashed, Part VII,” understand that I’m expecting “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro” to make little to no sense, and yet still equally expecting to somehow have a better time watching this than I would have normally assumed I’d have in the realm of low budget films. It’s all about how you use the value of a dollar, I suppose…and Swanson/Fishel have proven to be masters of finding ways to make things work. They could have spent at least a couple more dollars on volume, though – this is literally the first time I’ve ever turned my computer’s volume AND my system’s volume to the absolute max. For real…I didn’t even know how far my volume dial turned around until this very moment. Maybe they wanna know that, maybe they don’t. I just try to notice all the little things when I’m watching something, I guess. I ain’t gonna lie…the volume in this film will fluctuate way more than you’re ready for…heed my warning. Anyhow. Welcome to Mors High, where a tiny class of students are trying to learn about Prince Dom Pedro, with the exception of RJ, who apparently is always doing math. Soon enough, the supernatural effect is in play – a girl is TRIPPED on her way to the bus! Obviously, that’s not just gravity having its fun with a random student; it’s gotta be the freakin’ ghost of Prince Dom Pedro, right? The wry humour you’d expect from this collaboration between Swanson & Fishel is once again on display, but noticeably more subtle this time around – this is more of a hybrid idea than we experienced the last time around, so the Comedy becomes more of an accent quality that enhances the film. I’d say that’s a little bit of a risk to a degree – these two filmmakers do Comedy extremely well, and the more they lean into that, the better the results have been. Throughout the first twenty minutes of “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro,” you can feel a bit of unevenness as this film tries to find its balance. There are more than just random tripping incidents – people are beginning to hear a mysterious voice, too! Heck, the voice is even quoting from the band Poison’s biggest hit – and that IS legitimately scary. For real though, it’s been fun to watch as different characters seem to slip in and out of their reality as this film takes shape. As the students wonder aloud about the existence or relevance of Prince Dom Pedro, they are met with the voice in their head, warning them not to mock what is clearly one of Latin history’s most important figures, who is, in fact, Prince Dom Pedro himself, aka the Liberator of Brazil. Soon enough, after a bout of frustration over the voice not being able to penetrate the dedicated attention that kids pay to their phones these days, we’ve got our very first death onscreen. From there, death seems to loom around every corner, and we realize that for a ghost, Prince Dom Pedro has some pretty damn thin skin. No one is all that sure that the voice they’re hearing is even real, which is fun. No one seems to realize the full scope of the danger they’re in, what’s causing it, or why. Hard to avoid a problem if you don’t know that there is one, right? Just as hard to solve a mystery, too, if there are no masks & no damn meddling kids.
The tale of Senor Clarke and his history of being a legend in Jiu Jitsu is great, especially as we flash forward to the man in his current state, eating “pocket chips.” Loved that. That’s also the advantage of having the real-life legend himself, Writer Joe Fishel, play the character. Incidentally, he also plays the roles of Bigfoot and none other than Dom Pedro himself. Like I said, the man knows Comedy, and he’s a welcome presence whenever he shows up in his various forms. As for the students and such, I like’em – but it does seem like their days are numbered if they don’t get a passing grade in Latin History real soon. Librarian (Marsha Mayhak) also deserves a shout-out for her witty sarcasm, as does the film for taking a brief moment to lampoon the current state of hysteria surrounding what freakin’ books we can read. We don’t tend to spend a lot of time with the extraneous characters, really, but I felt that everyone involved made a solid contribution to this film and fully understood the mission they were on. Be serious…but not too serious. Have fun…but not too much fun. Remember, that you’re likely gonna die…but don’t make it known that you know this as you try to solve the mystery you don’t know you’re in. Jayden (Rachel O’Day) & Kayden (Madeline Sclichter) carry the weight of the film, and they hold their own pretty well, I’d say. The Man 2223 (Jim Cummins Jr.) was probably my favourite character of’em all. This is a quirky collaboration, and we knew that going in. If I’m comparing this film to the last one that I watched from Swanson and Fishel, I’d probably tell ya that “The Haunting Of Prince Dom Pedro” is a bit more noticeably uneven. It’s definitely got its moments, but you can feel the struggle for this film to find its voice as it splits its personality between being a Supernatural Thriller, Comedy, and Mystery. The social commentary they’ve threaded into this film was great, and I wish there was a bit more of that – but yeah…overall, it just felt like it was tougher for this duo to channel their energy into one direction. So it’s like one of those cases where you don’t get quite enough of any one particular element – the ol’ jack of all trades, master of none type of conundrum. For myself personally, I felt like there was just something continually missing…that real standout element that would make this film more memorable than forgettable. Some of the tiniest details and jokes made the biggest impact, but the bulk of what we’re dealing with felt like it was a little more generic than it probably should have been. The music included was better than I expected it to be, so that was cool, especially considering that we get a few really gratuitous moments to watch some tunes being played live along the way – but that ain’t what the film is really all about now, is it? The finale wasn’t quite there in terms of taking something from good to great…the balance of “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro” is actually its consistent imbalance. I like these guys, and I believe in the potential of what they can do based on what they’ve shown us so far – but I’ve gotta call things like I see’em too, and I figure that this film gets three stars outta five from me. |
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