I'm generally quite allergic to horror-comedies
For every "Braindead", "Re-Animator" or "Shaun of the Dead", there exist approximately 300 imbecilic movies that are neither horrific nor funny, just downright embarrassing. With "Bad Milo" I took a – or at least so I presumed – calculated risk because there were several signs indicating this would be a worthwhile comedy effort. For starters it doesn't feature any zombies (there's a massive over-offer of god-awful zombie comedies since too years now) and I read many favorable reviews around here. Also, the synopsis and pictures led me to believe "Bad Milo!" would be a comical version of classic horror films like David Cronenberg's "The Brood" or Frank Hennenlotter's "Basket Case", and I'm a huge fan of both. Well I hate to disagree with the vast majority of reviewers here, but I think "Bad Milo!" is an incredibly disappointing and severely underdeveloped effort. This film defines the term missed opportunity, as the story of a good-hearted man whose inner gastric butt-creature unleashes blood fury in his place is full of wicked horror and black comedy potential, but absolutely nothing is done with it. Instead of exploiting the gonzo-themes and/or the politically incorrect nature of the demon, the screenplay stupidly just brings forward clichéd comical situations and stereotypical characters like the case in any random mainstream screwball comedy. Our protagonist's mother has a relationship with a guy even younger than he is, and of course they share all details of their overactive sex life. Is this "American Pie", or something? He – Duncan – also has a co-worker who looks and acts like Homer Simpson and a corrupt boss who seems to walk straight out of "Arrested Development". To complete the slapstick-factor, Duncan seeks the help of an alternative shrink whose parrot shouts out psychiatric diagnoses! I'm genuinely astounded to see so many fans praise the originality and humor quality of this film, because it's on the verge of infantile and imbecilic. Please don't call it "tongue-in-cheek" because it's absolutely not the case. The horror elements of "Bad Milo!" are utterly negligible There's some blood-splattering on the walls and a bit of munching, but nothing obscene or even remotely provocative. The creature itself, Milo, looks even cuter than E.T. and the Gremlins combined. As stated above, I hoped that "Bad Milo!" would be reminiscent of "Basket Case", but in fact it's more like that other Frank Hennenlotter low-budget classic "Brain Damage". Except of course that "Brain Damage" was original, funny and memorable.
