Scary – Horrortrip in den Wahnsinn (1992)

Scary – Horrortrip in den Wahnsinn: Directed by Chris Walas. With Bill Paxton, Michael Ironside, Marshall Bell, Mitzi Kapture. A business man buys a house, but he has a hard time trying to get rid of its previous tenant, a dirty bum.

“There are good movies and there are bad movies, and then there are movies so delightfully skewed that the terms u0026quot;goodu0026quot; and u0026quot;badu0026quot; cease to apply. The Vagrant is of this last variety.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBill Paxton stars as Graham Krakowski, the epitome of young professionalism, who is buying his first home. On his first day in the new house (although u0026quot;newu0026quot; is a misnomer; the kitchen looks as if it was last updated around 1966), he walks in on a vagrant (Marshall Bell) hunched over the kitchen sink. Shortly after, he discovers the vagrant living on the vacant lot across the street. What follows is a paranoiacu0026#39;s nightmare; a hilariously twisted game of cat-and-mouse, with the vagrant testing the limits of Krakowskiu0026#39;s sanity. The vagrant does such a good job of driving him crazy that nobody believes Krakowski when he insists the vagrant is out to get him. Especially skeptical is Michael Ironside, playing a dense-as-a-cement-block police lieutenant (with the unlikely name of Ralf Barfuss, no less). When Krakowski calls the police after finding the vagrant in his house eating a sandwich, Barfuss asks (with a sort of gleeful maliciousness), u0026quot;And what kind of sandwich was this alleged man eating?u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enWhen the murders start, nobody listens to Krakowski, who is convinced the vagrant is to blame. Barfuss is dead-set on nailing Krakowski for the murders, and even Grahamu0026#39;s best friend questions his sanity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enThis is the first horror movie Iu0026#39;ve watched where I was sure everything I was laughing at was actually intended to be funny. I knew I was having fun about 15 minutes into the movie, when the following exchange took place -u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKRAKOWSKI: Quick, I think he(the vagrant)u0026#39;s getting ready to urinate!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCOP 1: Should we call for back-up?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCOP 2: Thereu0026#39;s no time!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Vagrant moves along at a pretty good clip, and the story, particularly the second half, plays out like one of the more surreal episodes of Tales from the Crypt. The balance between horror and comedy is a bit uneven, bordering on the ridiculously stupid at times, but still enjoyable. Michael Ironside is great in a rare comedic performance (although a larger role would have been nice); Marshall Bellu0026#39;s vagrant is an over-the-top boogyman who jumps out periodically to scare Bill Paxton; and itu0026#39;s just plain FUN watching Paxton degenerate from an uptight, neurotic yuppie to a scruffy, gun-toting trailer-park manager.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eB+ if youu0026#39;re a fan of tongue-in-cheek horror-comedy or the main stars;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eC- (or less) if youu0026#39;re a cinematic snob.”