PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *metaphysical*
Despite the "poor" mythicity-rating I gave to this low-budget supernatural comedy, it's at least lively with a few decent jokes. It may well be the best offering from the works of schlockmeister director David DeCouteau. Whether the relative qualify has anything to do with the script-- produced by a fellow with no other IMDB credits-- the world may never know.
I would imagine a few reviews may've opined that the best thing about the flick is its sesquipedalian title. The title probably contributed to SLIMEBALL's reputation as a "good bad movie." Yet the movie's best asset is the performance of Linnea Quigley-- even if the real star of this horror-comedy is a goofy imp played by a barely animated puppet and a guy with a deep voice.
A couple of young women, attempting to pledge to an elite sorority, are given the task of stealing a bowling trophy from a local alley while it's closed. For good measure, the two mean girls in charge of them also send along some dorky guys with the pledges. The mean girls rush ahead of the pledges and their companions, planning on spooking all of the dorks. But when the dorks break into the bowling alley, both they and the mean girls encounter a couple of unexpected phenomena. One is a punk girl burglar named Spider (Quigley), for whom Calvin, the most good-looking of the male dorks, immediately falls hard. The other is the trophy itself, which when broken unleashes a malevolent imp, who sometimes calls himself "Uncle Impie." He pretends to grant the young people wishes, but only so that he can visit deadly dooms upon them, when he's not turning some of them into his monsterized minions. He also seals the bowling alley so that no one can escape his macabre games.
Most of the actors are no better than they have to be, but Quigley really throws herself into the role of Spider, who gets to fight off Impie's minions with her punk-girl battle-skills, while her worshipful amour Calvin occasionally helps out. To no one's surprise, the young lovers are the only ones to both survive Impie's games and to trap him again. It's all good silly fun, but despite Quigley's charms the real star of of this horror-comedy is "Uncle Impie," played by a barely animated puppet and a guy with a deep voice.
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