The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) Reviews

• Surprise! Gratuitous gore and nudity can be tiresome

  the-gil-monster2009-09-28

  I really tried to give "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" a chance. Yes, it's a Rob Zombie movie- meaning that he casts his friends in an overlong music video for a song that has only overstayed its welcome on the classic rock airwaves by thirty years. Yes, it's animated by Spumco- meaning that no fungus-ridden toenail, no wax-encrusted ear canal, and CERTAINLY no booger-filled nostril would be denied a graphic close-up still. But know that I hushed my wife every time she said "NOT FUNNY." Know that memories of Spumco's groundbreaking "Ren & Stimpy" remained fully entrenched in my mind through my movie. Know that the odyssey of the washed-up wrestler El Superbeasto and his sister Susie-X (Sheri Moon Zombie in a Mary Sue role) through the Haunted World holds so much promise and in its three years of development we all had every right to be excited. But golly gee whillikers; when I crossed The Film Director of No Restraint with The Animation Company of No Restraint. you know what I got...? Bored. ...sorry... Look, shock gags are like betta fish- they do not mix well with others of their kind. When filming or drawing something provocative, it needs time to captivate. Enthrall. Repulse. Take root in the viewer's brain (watch "Meet The Feebles"- ah HAH; see the people near you cringing upon mention of that movie...? THAT'S how you shock someone!) In El Superbeasto however, there is so much breasts and blood and gore and breasts and blood and gore and breasts and blood and gore and breasts and blood and gore and breasts and blood and gore and breasts and blood and gore and breasts and blood and gore in the first FIVE MINUTES that it's like the aforementioned bettas in the same bowl- they've immediately rendered each other to shreds, and all we're left to watch is a bowl of lifeless mud. And no amount of Nazi zombies can resuscitate that. And- for a world inhabited by every movie and fiction monster out there- the movie can be stunningly predictable. If you can't figure out for yourself why the Bride of Frankenstein is coming to climax while sitting in a haunted lagoon, look out- you're clearly a one-celled organism and there's an amoeba waiting to engulf you. That's not so say that "El Superbeasto" is unwatchable. Some of the songs are genuinely enjoyable. Most of the jokes come from Dr. Satan and his gorilla Otto (ripped from "George Of The Jungle", but hell that's always funny) and their interaction with Velvet Von Black. Granted, that could be because El Superbeasto himself is the most detestable protagonist I've seen in a long time- over-the-topness be damned. I'm trying to imagine Zombie writing him up, and saying to himself "Now THIS is a guy I can spend four hours alone on a car trip with!" I'm failing. I also take offense to Zombie's ubiquitous nods to the classic horror and exploitation films of the past because I truly believe that they're lacking in respect. Tura Satana reprises her role as "Faster, Pussycat! Kill!! Kill!!!"'s lethal lady Varla long enough for Susie-X to slam a door in her face. Zombie's beloved "Phantom Creep" robot has a major role as Susie's sidekick, but he's a horndog who transforms into a crab-walk-like car that Susie drives by lying belly-down upon, and shifting a single lever between his legs. (...Get it? Bela Lugosi does. And he's underground right now crying.) Other references include Michael Myers is struck by a car as he crosses the street- which of course stands as a great metaphor for what Zombie did to the "Halloween" remake. Worst of all, the ending to "Carrie" is ripped off and accompanied by a song decrying Zombie for ripping off "Carrie". No wait- that may be squaresies with how many times Otis Firefly and Captain Spaulding appear in this film. And then when El Superbeasto grabs a mic and bursts into Loverboy's "Piece of My Heart"... ooh, we have a triple tie. ...I think that if The Haunted World of El Superbeasto was more in form with "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog", it'd be much more enjoyable. Now I didn't really care for Dr. Horrible, but the "villains" received much more screen time than the "heroes", so I can understand its appeal. Come to think of it, that was what I liked about Zombie's own "House of 1,000 Corpses", so why couldn't lightning have struck twice...? Instead, Rob Zombie's first animated opus is kind of like an "Austin Powers" movie. Only Austin has been replaced with Andrew "Dice" Clay. And Dr. Evil and Mini-Me are holding out for more money. ...Finally, here's an aside to all the other commenters mentioning "El Superbeasto" in the same breath as Ralph Bakshi's "Fritz The Cat": Please go SEE "Fritz". Immediately. This way you can go back and edit your "Superbeasto" IMDb entries with a sincere apology explaining how foolish you were to compare Bakshi's razor-sharp dissection of '60's college life and pop philosophy with Zombie's non-stop potty humor. Some of you, within ten minutes of watching "Fritz", may realize how freaking wrong you were and cannot wait until after the closing credits to amend your original text. You are quite permitted to pause the film. In other words, "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" and "Fritz The Cat" are animated films with adult ratings- That's their ONLY similarity! END OF!!

• An odd, weird, and mediocre animated film

  Criticman122011-05-02

  Rob Zombie has been known for doing many heavy metal songs and directing horror movies like, "House of 100 Corpses" and "The Devil's Reject's". But in 2009, he released a direct-to-video animated film based on the comic book made by him. The animated film was called, "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto". I like the film's animation. It's Spongebob Squarepants meet's Ralph Bakshi. The film also has some nice voice acting from Tom Papa, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Paul Giamatti as the villain. The problem's with this film is that sometime's the movie can be boring and some of the funny moment's in the movie can be pretty lame. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, is not a bad movie, but it's going to depend what you're into. If you're a Rob Zombie fan or someone looking for a mindless movie to watch, then this movie is for you. If you're someone that take's animated films seriously, then this movie is not for you.

• Love it or Hate it! Inappropriately funny!

  mrjoeobrien2009-09-25

  Watching this movie I did nothing but laugh, though I knew it was wrong to laugh at zombie Nazi's getting their heads sliced off by a hot animated busty-blonde-chick with an eye patch, I just couldn't help it. The movie was stylish, funny, and careless, with a "So what?" Attitude. This movie will either leave you in disgust, or laughing until your lungs bleed. Personally for me, this movie was a love, as I can only speak for myself I can't say you'll like it, but if you think you'll like it, then you'll probably love it. If you like immature and comically brutal cartoons, with sex drive and bad-mouth language, then you'll love this!

• Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

  CuriosityKilledShawn2010-02-20

  Rob Zombie has been on the receiving end of far too much criticism in his career as a filmmaker. Nearly every one of his films have had mostly negative reviews despite the fact that he clearly has a stronger understanding of horror than most of the PG-13 hack-jobs that fill out the genre these days. THWOES is perfect for his hyperactive imagination to take full advantage of world of cartoons. Superbeasto himself is a actor-slash-director dressed as a Mexican wrestler. His sister Susie X is some kind of secret agent hunting zombie Nazis. They're supposed to work together but Superbeasto's womanizing and laziness often prevents him from taking part. His old high school punching bag Steve Wachowski adopts the guise of Dr. Satan and plans to take over the world once he weds a girl with a 666 tattoo on her ass. That girl just happens to be a stripper Superbeasto has the hots for and he's not going to let Dr. Satan have his way. THWOES plays a lot like a feature-length skit from MTV's Liquid Television back in the early 90s. It's often surreal and rapid-fire. If you like the maniacal humor of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and can keep up with the madness then you'll get a kick out of El Superbeasto. There's lots of blood and gore and nudity too if that's your kinda of thing. Keep a lookout for Captain Spaulding and Otis Driftwood too, and stick around for the end of the closing credits.

• Rob Zombie presents his own fritz the cat.

  buiredintime2009-09-11

  Okay we all know Rob Zombie and the way he films, it's all about the uneasiness of the situation, the excessiveness of it all whether it be extreme amounts of gore, language, nudity, fast paced cuts and over the top acting. It's nothing new going into the Haunted world of el superbeasto to think it would be anything different, I knew the moment I heard Zombie was going to do an animated film that he in fact was going for Cool World meets Fritz the cat. The man obviously loves his Woman in seductive form and he loves his exploitation turned to 11. Of course Haunted world is no different. Now I won't sugar coat the movie, it's graphic, as graphic a comic movie I've ever seen, boobs pop up everywhere, people mutilate themselves and are killed in graphic ways, there's sexual situations at every turn and language so course that it would make a sailor curl in his boots. It's to be expected and to be honest it get's a little old after awhile. I don't understand why Zombie can't just tone it done a little. I know he's really into the horror aspect of it all but sometimes I think Zombie does it just to do it, it distracts from what could be a really cool Animated movie. Now it's not all bad, in fact the acting is quite entertaining and good, especially Tom Papa as Superbeasto, he's so over the top it's hilarious. He plays a wrestler living a crazed strange world where his characters are all monsters and creatures outside of a few people. What makes the movie interesting and fun is it does detour from his true horror genre, yes it has it's horror routes but the movie is so much different than what you've seen from Rob zombie, I say he should tone it down but the movie as a whole is somewhat fresh, it's somewhat funny thanks in part to Mr. Lawernce and Tom Papa in part writing the script. Instead of having Rob zombie write true cliché character, the characters here are different and entertaining. I especially like the new takes on some of Zombies movie characters like Dr. Satan, which in this movie is skinny, scrawny and has a pet ape and surprisingly is voiced by the most awesomeness Paul Giamatti. You also Spongebob himself Tom Kinny playing Otto the deranged father from Corpses, as well as Sid Haig playing Captain spaulding. Even though these characters are gruesome in the live action movies, there played with quite entertaining delight and goofiness in this movie. Heck they even threw in Rosario Dawson for good measure. Now on the flipside the story plays a lot like a elongated TV series, being from Starz media I'm almost assuming that this will become a TV show in the future if it catches on. It doesn't make sense all the time and feels like it's too disjointed at some points where the story literally stops to show us some sexual situation or naked woman and man having sex. The story to me is probably it's weakest point, it's not all bad and can make you chuckle if you have a disturbed sense of humor such as myself but still it's like I said earlier, it's almost like Rob Zombie is paying homage to fritz the cat. On one last note, I expected the film to almost have a Heavy metal feel, in that the animation would be disjointed and raw but instead we get something close in line to Osmosis Jones and Beavis and Butthead, it's slightly disjointed but it's not too extreme, it's just what it is. Trust me when I say it's very cool to look and very well drawn but it still could have used a slightly heavier disjointed feel. Okay to summarize, out of all the Zombie films I've seen this is the better of the films, it doesn't mean it's all around great because it's not, it has problems, some more glaring than others but within all it's flaws the movie is still fun to watch and I would recommend it with only slight caution, if you get offended easily then be cautious otherwise I give it a 7/10.