“A feverish combination of horror and comedy that is both unabashedly fun and shockingly grotesque. FUNNY DEVILS’ metatextual awareness is often charming in its insight, and the script boasts some supremely inventive gore that will surely satisfy even the most ardent fans of the genre.”
– The Black List
Loosely based on the real-life legend of the Jersey Devil, FUNNY DEVILS is a darkly comedic script that both subverts and embraces genre clichés. As a longtime horror lover, this is a movie I’ve been dying to see since I was a kid sneaking home R-rated VHS tapes from Blockbuster.
Logline:
A self-aware comedy troupe must rely on their improv skills when they discover the legend of the Jersey Devil is no joke.
Synopsis:
According to Jersey locals, Mother Leeds gave birth to her 13th child in 1735 before it transformed into a hideous creature that has been haunting the Pine Barrens ever since. The Jersey Devil has been featured in numerous books, tv shows, video games, and comics, and even has a hockey team named after it. However, despite the many stories that have been told, there is one question that has never even been asked: what happened to the Leeds family?
A struggling improv comedy troupe on the way to their next shitty gig is about to find out. While driving on a deserted stretch of road, a group of self-aware comedians discuss the semantics of horror film setups before discovering they’re in one themselves. Following a terrible car wreck, our heroes stumbles upon a bloodstained campsite and learn their attackers may actually be the descendants of Mother Leeds. Eventually they find shelter in a picturesque cabin full of hard-partying teens but things aren’t quite what they seem. Finally realizing they truly are stuck in a horror movie, they decide to fight back by embracing genre clichés in an attempt to write their own happy ending.