In her “Krazy House” review for IndieWire, critic Katie Rife described writer/directors Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil’s absurdist Dutch horror comedy as testing “the limits of taste.”
With its hyper-violent style and blasphemous dark humor, the latest feature from the filmmakers behind “New Kids Turbo” and “Bros Before Hos” also inspired Rife to write that their movie was “like an Adult Swim infomercial directed by black-metal teenagers.” That’s a point of pride in the outrageous project’s equally unapologetic first trailer — which debuted exclusively with IndieWire after “Krazy House” made its divisive world premiere at Sundance in January.
The first look above includes quotes from our site’s critical review and others to spectacularly cheeky self-endorsement. Decidedly not for everyone, this sitcom deconstruction quickly gained a reputation for its gonzo shock value and outright mocking of Christianity. It later screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam, Fantastic Film Festival Australia, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival, and will screen again at Sitges Film Festival in October.
Legendary as ever, “Shaun of the Dead” hero Nick Frost stars as not-so-typical TV dad Bernie. Bernie looks and sounds like your basic bumbling small-screen patriarch — complete with slippers and Jesus sweater — until a trio of Russian handymen led by the villainous Piotr (Jan Bijovet) begin to steadily rip apart his home board by board and promptly take Bernie’s entire family hostage.
So named for the sitcom-within-a-film it captures…and promptly dismembers…, “Krazy House” puts Bernie’s wife Eva (Alicia Silverstone), daughter Sarah (Gaite Jansen), and son Adam (Walk Klink) in several terrible (psychosexual??) predicaments in desperate need of Bernie’s intervention. Too bad he’s losing his mind. It’ll take a savior — maybe even Christ himself? (Kevin Connolly) — to help make him act. In her review, Rife praised the very game cast’s performances as well as shouted out the filmmaker’s admirable experiments with unusual and even surrealist techniques.
Kevin Smith will host a special screening of “Krazy House” at his Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, with stars Nick Frost and co-director Steffen Haars both in attendance. You can watch the “Krazy House” trailer above and see its poster below.
XYZ Films will release “Krazy House” on VOD October 4.
