Assholes, better watch your ass. Here comes a mangler with a mask.
What do you call an R-rated animated movie that features more naked women with big breasts than Heavy Metal, oodles of blood and gore, and enough fart, sex, and gay jokes to satisfy the average juvenile male? Why, it's 2009's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, which is precisely what you would expect from director Rob Zombie. Co-written with comedian Tom Papa, who voices the titular retired luchador who believes he's a much bigger star than he actually is, El Superbeasto is a nod to the bracing, adult animated films Ralph Bakshi was making in the early '70s crossed with Zombie's fondness for all things horror. (The references whiz by so fast and furious at times, it's impossible to catch them all without resorting to the pause button.)
While it's based on a comic book created by Zombie, El Superbeasto doesn't waste any more time than necessary on the wrestler-turned-pornographer's origin story, preferring instead to forge ahead with his lustful pursuit of stripper Velvet Von Black (Rosario Dawson), who's kidnapped by the devious Dr. Satan (Paul Giamatti) so he can make her his infernal bride. (Seems the top-heavy Velvet has the Mark of the Beast on her derriere, which makes her ideal marriage material.) Also in the mix are El Superbeasto's sister Suzi X (Sheri Moon Zombie), who fights werewolf and zombie Nazis alongside her lovesick robot pal Murray (Brian Posehn), and Dr. Satan's put-upon talking gorilla Otto (Tom Kenny), who gets to sing the Schoolhouse Rock-inspired song that outlines his evil master's plan. (The songs, incidentally, were farmed out to the comedy musical duo Hard 'n Phirm -- Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman -- and are among the film's few bright spots.)
Because Zombie is the Christopher Guest of throwback horror, he's stocked the voice cast with actors from his other films (Ken Foree, Clint Howard, Geoffrey Lewis, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace), and a couple (Sid Haig and Bill Moseley) reprising their characters from them. For good measure, he even recruits Tura Satana to play her character from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, but all the in-jokes and movie references in the world won't help if they're propping up a threadbare plot lacking in anything approaching wit. Just because Zombie has one of his characters question its lack of originality ("Now, that's a little derivative, don't you think?" Otto asks Dr. Satan at one point), that's no excuse for not trying harder to have some.
