The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue Movie Review

The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue Movie Review
Directed by Mike Bradecich and John LaFlamboy, starring Robert Englund, X-Zanthia, Dave Pasquesi
By:stacilayne
Updated: 09-29-2011
 
Jack Brooks Monster Slayer marries The Landlord then has an affair with the folks from Killer Party somewhere in purgatory to birth The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue — a mishmash of stuff we've all seen before, and will see again. So, yeah… it's not original. But it's a quirky, on-the-cheap thrill.
 
Mike Bradecich and John LaFlamboy (who are also the writer-directors) play Jarmon and Marion (yep - they inserted the obligatory John Wayne joke there), a pair of brothers who are the landlords of a slummy apartment building which just happens to house a creature they call The Mole Man. Mole Man's residency is kept on the Q-T as best as they can manage, and it wasn't so much a problem when the bloodthirsty beast was only going after the neighborhood smorgasbord of cats and dogs… but when he develops a palette for human pâté, Belmont Avenue's buffet must be shut down. And who better to do it than a pair of clueless, videogame lovin' stoners?
 
The apt. ensemble includes Robert Englund as Hezekiah Confab, an ageing lothario with a poodle he'd just as soon forget, and Mary Seibel as Mrs. Habershackle a grumpy cat lady whose pussy is in peril. There's also a hooker (X-Zanthia) and a hermit (Dave Pasquesi) — to name just a few of the whacky residents who wander in and out and narrowly escape (some of them, anyway!) the Mole Man's malevolent maw.
 
The movie displays an array of whacky, juvenile set pieces (I will admit, the hallucination sequence to depict the effects of a shroom-laced joint was pretty funny… the red-eyed Persian kitten is a star!), insidery nerd-speak involving outdated contraptions like the Atari 2600, and even a few goofily gory death scenes. There's a guy in a gorilla suit that'll make you think of Kentucky Fried Movie, and awkward acting that's right out of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!. There's one more strange contrivance, which I am not sure was done of purpose from the outset or if it was born of necessity — but the muddled dialogue is as odd times captioned. While I can't say I liked all this cutesyness, I do admit to chuckling once or twice. Our heroes are more intrepid than insipid, fortunately.
 
The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue is playing in Los Angeles this weekend at the Shriekfest Film Festival.
 
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson

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