What do you get when a writer-director wants to make some fun that blends clear love of The Evil Dead with the teen angst and horniness to be found in the Night Of The Demons movies? Considering you probably read the title of this review before diving into this first paragraph then I suspect you know the answer. You get The Hazing, an entertaining horror comedy that makes some good use of genre stars alongside some spirited performances from other cast members.
Having made his name back at the start of the 1990s with his meta horror comedy There's Nothing Out There, writer-director Rolfe Kanefsky then spent a lot of time delivering numerous erotic features to people who I suspect happily collected them for their special hidden DVD box of softcore treats. I haven't actually seen any of his erotica, but considering they're given labels such as "The Sex Files" or something with Emmanuelle in the title . . . I doubt they're on par with most of the strong sexual content you can find at the touch of a button nowadays. But I digress. It's a shame that Kanefsky wasn't able to just keep making fun horror movies in the vein of this, and others I have seen from him. He's very genre-literate, and he knows how to make the most of well-known horror movie tropes.
There's an evil book at the heart of this, and it belongs to the nefarious Professor Kapps (Brad Dourif). While he's in a comatose state, however, a group of disposable young things enter his home and search for the book. It will help them pass an initiation ritual. Professor Kapps can sense them though, and he has a number of tricks up his sleeve to deal with the interlopers.
As much as I like Kanefsky, and as much as I believe he does a very good job of mixing his influences in a way that feels less tiresome and lazy than some others I could mention, he really helps himself here with the central cast. Apart from Dourif using a very dubious English accent, which somehow stops him from being able to pronounce the word "passage" like a normal human being, he's a very welcome face. I'd say the same about Tiffany Shepis, a "scream queen" who I've been a big fan of for the past few decades. Parry Shen is another good addition, and gets another slasher role that allows him to have a lot of fun while in the midst of some entertaining gags and gore, and Nectar Rose ends up making a strong impression, not just because of her involvement in a scene that makes use of a very elongated tongue while she obliviously receives some incredible cunnilingus. The other cast members also deserve some praise, but I'll specifically highlight the very entertaining cameo from Brooke Burke in the opening scenes of the film.
It's not the best at anything it's trying to do, be it the horror or the comedy, but The Hazing works hard to keep horror fans entertained for every part of the 87-minute runtime. Some may be turned off by early scenes, including a dire Reservoir Dogs "homage" that doesn't really work, but if you stick with it then I think you'll be suitably rewarded. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and it all improves once the main premise and characters are established, leaving plenty of time and space for the madness, practical effects, and demonic shenanigans to take centre stage.
7/10
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