Broken Lizard's Club Dread is actually a film I've been looking forward to for some time. I had the opportunity to meet the hilarious comedy troupe Broken Lizard twice. The first time was a few years back at the Sundance Film Festival where they were on hand to unveil the hysterical Super Troopers. The second time was at ShoWest 2003 where they were hanging out to promote their new film Club Dread. After nearly a year, the comedy/slasher film has finally been released.

Club Dread is a goofy hybrid of several different genres that finds a group of fun seeking individuals partying it up on an island near Costa Rica. The fun comes to a grinding halt when a killer starts picking them off one by one.

Club Dread is a peculiar film in that much of it is a straight forward, broad more-or-less stoner comedy - complete with scantily clad hotties and crude jokes, but it's also a riff on slasher movies. What makes the film especially odd is it's strange rhythm. Truth be told, Club Dread never finds the right balance between horror and comedy. At a glance, it's clear that Broken Lizard is going for humor, because there are moments here that would be incredibly ridiculous had this picture been playing it straight (most notably the outstanding climax that had the audience cheering). However, the gore effects on display in Club Dread are more effective than some of the one's used in horror flicks, and that kind of took me off guard. So I kept asking myself, is this a comedy? Is it a horror film? Is it a parody of a horror film? Is it a dopey sex romp? Finally, I decided it was just a kooky combination of all three.

It's easy to tell that much of Club Dread is improvised. But the screenwriters (Broken Lizard) do have a fun time shifting suspicion from one character to the next, and I must confess, I didn't figure out who the killer was, mostly because I was too busy laughing.

The Broken Lizard team play the leads, and for the most part they're all pretty funny. The beautiful Brittany Daniel (Who reminded me of Jenna Elfman with a dash of 24's Elsiha Cuthbert thrown in for good measure), is very likable, and quite convincing during scenes in which she is supposed to act scared. Bill Paxton is a riot in what could be best described as a Jimmy Buffett/Captain Ron impersonation. Jordan Ladd (Cheryl's daughter) also appears as a shy, suspicious tourist who may not be who she says she is, and I found it ironic that Broken Lizard got her to do a topless scene, in light of the fact that she bared so little skin in Eli Roth's gorefest Cabin Fever.

It's very clear that Broken Lizard like to make people laugh and it's also clear that they have a special fondness for horror films and movies in general. This flick pays homage to everything from Halloween to Apocalypse Now to Student Bodies (perhaps the greatest slasher parody of all time), and it manages to be far better than some of the films it seems to be borrowing from (i.e. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer). And, even though it never finds the right balance of tone, I found it more surprising than the recent Twisted, much funnier than Eurotrip, and much more entertaining than last year's overhyped Cabin Fever. Did I like it as much as Super Troopers? I'd say no. It's not as consistently funny, but the stuff in Club Dread that made me laugh (including a gut wrenchingly funny ode to Pac-Man) made me laugh hard.

Perhaps the biggest problem with Club Dread is it's length. I found myself glancing at my watch a couple of times. With a one hour and forty-five minute running time, this movie feels a little too long, and there were plenty of moments that could have been trimmed. Still, I'd be lying is I said I didn't have a good time. I laughed at Broken Lizard and their goofy ode to horror enough to offer up a recommendation.