And you thought your job bites, sucks and drains the life out of you?! The folks at Berm- Tech Industries, a shadowy telecom company located in downtown Phoenix, wouldn't have it any other way. Unfortunately, change is a-comin', heralded by company president Turner Claymore (SNL's Darrell Hammond) plunging a wooden stake into company suck-up Mike. Mild-mannered Otto Granberry (Steve Burns from Blue's Clues) is called into the big guy's office and asked to handle things, but he's understandably distracted by Mike's lifeless body. "Mike was a vampire," Claymore explains, leading to one of the most unusual, funky and offbeat comedies you'll see all year.
The opening scene is almost an exact recreation of Dean and Brian Ronalds' hilarious short film, The Netherbeast of Berm-Tech Industries, Inc., which skewers corporate management and bureaucracy. It turns out that the folks at Berm-Tech are a tight-knit "family" with a bloody secret that's about to be exposed. Hammond and Burns join Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall), Judd Nelson (The Breakfast Club), Jason Mewes (Clerks), Amy Davidson (8 Simple Rules) and Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart) as President Garfield in the daft, deftly written and produced comedy. Local luminaries like Robyn Allen and Laura Durant also play featured roles, but Bruce Dellis's script and the Ronalds Brothers' twisted sense of humor are the real stars of the film. Funny riffs abound, as does bloody cartoon gore, but Netherbeast Incorporated steers clear of the X-rated humor and language that's such a routine part of Judd Apatow's comedies.
It's not a seamless film, and the ending does get a little too convoluted for its own good, but Netherbeast Incorporated is a hundred times smarter and funnier than any of the Epic- Superhero-Disaster-Meet the Spartans movies. Any film that has a character exclaim: "For the love of Laura Keene!" (The actress/manager who invited Lincoln to Ford's Theatre) definitely has my heart!
The opening scene is almost an exact recreation of Dean and Brian Ronalds' hilarious short film, The Netherbeast of Berm-Tech Industries, Inc., which skewers corporate management and bureaucracy. It turns out that the folks at Berm-Tech are a tight-knit "family" with a bloody secret that's about to be exposed. Hammond and Burns join Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall), Judd Nelson (The Breakfast Club), Jason Mewes (Clerks), Amy Davidson (8 Simple Rules) and Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart) as President Garfield in the daft, deftly written and produced comedy. Local luminaries like Robyn Allen and Laura Durant also play featured roles, but Bruce Dellis's script and the Ronalds Brothers' twisted sense of humor are the real stars of the film. Funny riffs abound, as does bloody cartoon gore, but Netherbeast Incorporated steers clear of the X-rated humor and language that's such a routine part of Judd Apatow's comedies.
It's not a seamless film, and the ending does get a little too convoluted for its own good, but Netherbeast Incorporated is a hundred times smarter and funnier than any of the Epic- Superhero-Disaster-Meet the Spartans movies. Any film that has a character exclaim: "For the love of Laura Keene!" (The actress/manager who invited Lincoln to Ford's Theatre) definitely has my heart!