Boo! A Madea Halloween

Rating

Director

Tyler Perry

Screenplay

Tyler Perry

Length

1h 43min

Starring

Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely, Bella Thorne, Yousef Erakat, Lexy Panterra, Andre Hall, Brock O’Hurn, Liza Koshy, Diamond White

MPAA Rating

PG-13 for drug use and references, suggestive content, language, some horror images and thematic material

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Review

One of the most prolific black filmmakers in history has delved into the realm of horror comedy with Boo! A Madea Halloween, taking his popular cross-dressing character and putting her through the fright ringer that isn’t particularly scary and often isn’t that funny.

Tyler Perry has been churning out films since 2002, though his first big screen release wasn’t until 2006. Nearly every year since has featured one or more Perry films tackling numerous subjects and genres, but sticking closely to either comedy or relationship dramas. His most familiar character, Madea, is an aging, overweight woman whose sassy barbs and general disdain for anyone other than herself has become a familiar figure in his movies. In her eighth outing, Perry finally decides to mix styles together and incorporates a bit of horror mystique into his overly commonplace formulae.

The premise of Boo! A Madea Halloween is that of a father (Perry) whose unruly 17-year-old daughter (Diamond White) wants to attend a frat Halloween party against his wishes. He engages the services of his aunt Madea (Perry in drag) to house sit and watch over her. His daughter still manages to sneak out after scaring Madea and the friends she’s brought with her: Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis), Aunt Hattie (Patrice Lovely), and Perry’s father (also played by Perry). As her scheme unravels, pranks are carried out on both sides as the film settles into a morality play about family and obedience.

The film features two minor narrative twists that alter the audience’s expectations. While these aren’t telegraphed, they aren’t particularly sly or clever either. It’s the work of a simple screenwriter wanting to get across heavy moralization without confusing his audience. That he expects so little of them is disappointing. That they don’t mind the formulaic structure is also troubling.

Crass humor and forceful moralizing are key components to the film. Although the trailer suggested this was going to be a horror film mixed with Perry’s brand of humor, the horror elements are notably insufficient. There are some creepy scenes, but they are played more for high comedy than for scares. In the realm of horror comedy, most efforts go overboard on the joke-a-minute concept. Scary Movie is probably the most familiar of such endeavors. However, Scary Movie doesn’t have a very tight plot and this one, for better or worse, does. It isn’t nearly as funny or as cheaply ludicrous, but the humor is muted and not exceptionally compelling.

Compared then to an ironic sort of horror comedy like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, you see a different set of problems. For that film, the comedy is all in the audience’s mind. While the characters are playing up the absurdness of the situation, it digs into standard horror tropes and tenderly kneads them to deliver much of its intrinsic humor. Here, Perry doesn’t showcase that he’s that much of a student of the genre. That lack of familiarity, or unwillingness to get familiar with it, makes the film feel like horror lite.

Watching this film in anticipation of the sequel, it’s clear that Perry needs to reevaluate where he takes the next film. Will it be more horror focused like the trailer suggests or will it be more like Boo! A Madea Halloween and rely on corny and cheesy “twists” to sell its brand of non-horror. Hopefully, Perry has taken some time to analyze why his prior effort didn’t work terribly well and made the necessary adjustments. Though, at this point, his formula is too well known, so that doesn’t seem likely.

Review Written

November 16, 2017