Spook Spoofing (1928) User Reviews

Our Gang Scare-Fest Gets Better at the End

[tharrx · 6/10 · 15 October 2006]

This short has a lot of funny moments, but it's too long (the longest of all the "Our Gang" shorts, I've heard), and leans too much on mocking the cowardice and gullibility of Farina, the sole black character in the film. The rest of the gang is reduced to a bunch of bullies. The more they pick on Farina, the slower and more annoying the film becomes.

The short picks up when Farina is tricked into entering a graveyard and the gang's pranks backfire, scaring them as much as Farina. Some of the gags are elaborate and even spooky, and the pace becomes lightning fast. I think if they had edited down the first half this would have been a classic.

Spook Spoofing is a thrillingly funny "Our Gang" short

[tavm · 7/10 · 7 February 2008]

This Hal Roach comedy short, Spook Spoofing, is the seventy-first in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series. Superstitious Farina carries a special charm on him to ward off goblins. Joe, however, loves playing practical jokes so he plans with the gang, assisted by the undertaker's son Jay R., many elaborate ones on Farina. When the black kid threatens to rub one of them so he falls dead, Harry plays along to Farina's surprise. As Farina carries Harry to the grave with the gang following with even more tricks up their sleeve, an eclipse comes with strong stormy winds that makes the entire gang run for cover with the sand clouds following right behind them...Despite some cruel treatment of Farina (I did not like the joy buzzer that Joe put on Farina's chair), this was quite a thrillingly funny short once the gang wound up at the cemetery during the eclipse. And how happy was I to see the tables turned once Farina accidentally gets a face balloon stuck on his head with his coat covering his face. And kudos to Gaylord Carter for providing the organ music that entirely scored this Blackhawk Films print. So once again, I'm recommending Spook Spoofing, another thrillingly funny "Our Gang" short. Update: 10/2/14-I just watched this again on a DVD that was part of a collection of The Little Rascals talkie series from Hal Roach of which this was one of three silents included. It had the option of playing with commentary by one Richard Lewis Ward, author of "A History of the Hal Roach Studios".

An uncomfortable stereotype today.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 4 February 2012]

This is the sort of plot that played well back in the day but today seems very racist and sad. Back in the 20s, a popular black stereotype is that they all are afraid of ghosts and are quite superstitious. In this case, Farina is both--and spends much of the film invoking lucky charms and worrying about spooks. Oddly, the other kids take advantage of this and are incredibly cruel towards him--something VERY atypical of the series. After several nasty pranks, they pretend that Farina's charm killed another kid--and poor Farina doesn't know what to do. The other kids insist that Farina had better bury the kid--but that means a trip to the spooky cemetery. Once there, the Gang has rigged up a lot of things to scare the pants off poor Farina. But, in the end, it all backfires on them--scaring them all half to death.

While there are some funny moments, this is a rather cruel short and mistreating a fellow member of the Gang is rather nasty. The sweet charm of the kids is sadly lacking and I suspect you'll have a hard time finding this short unless you get hold of the eight-disc mega collection, as most other collections of their films have eliminated the more racist shorts. Personally I am glad they included it--warts and all, it's good to have as many of the old films in one set. Plus I hate censorship.

Spook Spoofing review

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 3 May 2020]

Chaotic Little Rascals entry which seems to keep going long after it's run out of new ideas.