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For Christmas, Dr. Ella Mental (Mariah Johnson) has a special treat for
us: She not only shows us the 70's low budget horror classic Silent
Night, Bloody Night, she also promises us to build a living
snowman. But of course, you can't build a living snowman without some
Christmas magic - so he sends off her assistant Mr Budderbottom (Jarod
Kearney) to get her Santa's Helper (Brandy Mason) ... and even if Santa's
Helper turns out to be nothing more than a Christmas elve from the mall,
she manages to extract enough Christmas magic from her butt (a rather
painful procedure from the looks of it). But when she's almost finished,
Gruber the sorcerer (Royce Hobson) stops by and promises her to destroy
Christmas for good - which would be bad, because Dr. Ella Mental needs
Christmas magic for her creation. So obviously, she has to stop Gruber ...
but is interrupted endlessly by wanting to watch some more of the film,
turning into her evil self Hydie - much to the dismay of her handpuppet
duck Roscoe (Talon Borrelli), whom she wants to feed a chicken -, and of
course, by simply not having a plan. Finally, she wants to raise her
living snowman after all to stop Gruber, when Gruber spoils her recipe,
thinking he has destroyed Christmas for good by doing so. But can one
magician alone destroy Christmas - especially when the film this story
frames isn't over yet? Dr. Ella Mental's Mad Lab Picture
Show is somewhere described as "a children's program made for
adults" by its makers - and that's a pretty accurate description too.
Basically it's a horror story with a pretty silly premise, it's played out
as light-footedly as possible, with characters talking into the camera in
front of garishly coloured fake lab sets, with cheap costumes, handpuppets
and the like - and yet, the humour of the show is not particularly
childish, nor is it just moronic, the cast plays it tongue-in-cheek, and
some of the jokes are downright mean. Add to that genuinely fun characters
and a fun ensemble cast who all fill their roles, and you've come pretty
far already ... This all might not make Dr. Ella Mental's Mad Lab
Picture Show: A Budderbottom Xmas great comedy, maybe not even the
greatest horror host show either - but it's really fun to watch, and
whether or not you're interested in Silent
Night, Bloody Night (by the way a pretty cool flick), you'll find
yourself entertained.
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