Tag: Susan Wokoma

Crazyhead: Beaver With a Chainsaw – Balls Out Together (Review)

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Crazyhead “Beaver With a Chainsaw” (“What does that even mean,” asks Amy.) is the very short season’s finale.  Raquel does indeed open the gates of Hell releasing a legion of demons.  Amy saves the day, along with a little help from Mercy, and Jake is possessed. By the time the end credits roll, however, the two demon hunters are back together; extendible batons at the ready.

In the last episode, Raquel learns that Harry is actually a demon and that Dr. Weaver is the big leader of all the escapees from Hell.  Amy tries to warn her friend and even threatens to get Tyler; Raquel’s brother,  involved to keep the “key to Hell” from going to see Harry.

Raquel drugs everyone and as they play Jinga on Halloween, Tyler, Jake and Amy collapse and pass out. (Tyler loses the Jinga game by knocking over the wooden tower with his head as he passes out.) Amy wakes up and gets Jake to drive after Raquel.

Both of her potential saviors are colossally messed up from the combination of vodka and prescription medication. Jake insists he can drive and takes off at a snail’s pace to catch up with Raquel. After a short, but very funny, journey, they arrive in time to see Raquel being taken away.

After getting Halloween costumes, in order to blend in at the big party and Hell gate opening, they chase after Raquel again.

At the mansion, Callum is gloating about releasing a legion of demons. Raquel asks for, and gets, a cigarette. Immediately after lighting it, she shoves the lit end into Dr. Weaver’s ear. “Can we get that painkilling spray,” he asks Harry later.

Mercy is not pleased that her son is set up to be possessed by demons and while Callum and Harry get things ready, she spends a lot of time with her boy. Amy and Jake arrive and Mercy gives her a demon kiss rendering the young woman unconscious.

Raquel learns that Harry was a demon all along and her fury at being lied to creates a little meltdown action. The gates of Hell open and demons come flooding into the mansion and the innocent party goers.

Amy, who had a vision showing her dying at the Halloween party, stops Raquel’s rage fueled grief by telling her friend  she loves her. Kissing her pal causes Raquel to calm down and this closes the gates of Hell.

Callum is furious. He and Amy struggle and they plunge off the edge of the balcony. Amy, seen falling in slow motion, lands on a zombie decoration. Raquel screams her friend’s name and Amy’s eyes open. She has been saved by an inflatable zombie decoration.

The three friends leave the mansion. Jake turns out to be possessed. After a quick chase through the woods, which ends with the young man being zapped by Raquel’s taser mobile phone, Amy performs an exorcism.

Later she tells her friend that Jake is back and that he was extremely excited that she urinated on him. At the end, Suzanne – drinking what looks suspiciously like blood from a  five liter plastic bottle – watches as the two demon hunters go after their latest prey.

This was a brilliant end to the six episode season. Everything about this series worked well. From Kiwi songstress Gin Wigmore’s  Kill of the Night theme song to the raunchy, aka earthy, slang for all things sexual from Raquel, this was funny and entertaining.

The scene where everyone apart from Raquel are stoned while playing Jinga is hysterically funny. So too is the low speed chase with a loaded Jake and Amy going after Raquel. Rather interestingly, Mercy’s last moment change of heart was touching.

Misfits creator Howard Overman has given us an irreverent and amusing look at two English demon hunters who have little in common. There appears to be a good chance that the show will come back for a second season as it seems that E4 put the series on with an eye on Netflix acquiring the show.

With an ongoing mission to find all the demons that Raquel released into that mansion, the two heroines are going to be very busy for at least another six episode season.

Crazyhead is available on Netflix to stream or download for offline viewing.

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‘Crazyhead’ Episode 5: Downward Facing Dog – Namaste B*tches (Review)

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Crazyhead episode 5: “Downward Facing Dog” sees Raquel getting closer to Harry and Amy struggles to convince her friend that her new guy pal is going to attack her.  Apart from her prophetic dream showing that Harry is not what he claims to be, Amy also seems to see her own death.

Amy attempts to warn Raquel about Harry but the half-demon has shut her mobile phone off.  The date goes well right up until one of Weaver’s henchmen follows Raquel into the bar’s  restroom . Harry intervenes and shoves the demon’s head into a faeces filled toilet bowl.

He then reveals that Sawyer, Raquel’s dad, sent him to protect her. Harry is a demon hunter who was friends with her father, he says. Raquel is upset at first but then forgives Harry for lying to her. They kiss in the public lavatory and he walks her home, forgetting that his car is back at the bar.

Amy and Raquel have their first real falling out over Harry after revealing that he is a demon hunter. She tells Amy everything that Harry told her but Amy insists that he is going to hurt her.

Amy insists that they should double-date. Raquel reveals that she snogged Harry’s face off in the toilets and that he attacked a demon for her.  Mercy and Weaver talk about “the plan.”

The two couples go bowling. Jake meets Tyler and is not impressed, he is also very aggressive toward Raquel’s brother.  Amy gets Harry some bowling shoes and quizzes the demon hunter.

Harry tells Raquel that Amy does not like him and she confronts Amy about her attitude.

Raquel is completely swept away by Harry and later, when Callum’s henchmen try to kill Amy, she and Harry save Jake and Amy. Harry even leaps in front of Raquel and takes a bullet for her.

The wounded demon hunter goes into hospital to recover. After Raquel goes to visit him, Callum drops by and we learn that Harry has been possessed by a demon.

Mercy seems to have second thoughts about having her child possessed by a freshly released demon from Hell.

Raquel, whose nature allows her to react rather spectacularly when use, is the key and in the rescue scene, she once again moves things about telekinetically.

The best bit of the whole episode had to be the kidnapping of Amy and Jake. Flung into the boot of a car, the two have their hands and mouth’s taped up by Callum’s henchmen.

Amy’s friend discovers a sharp piece of metal and begins struggling to cut the tape on his wrists. As he rhythmically rubs the tape against the object, it looks, and sounds, as though Jake is having sex with Amy.

Funny and awkward, it is the highlight of the episode and may just qualify as the comedic high point of the series. Show creator Howard Overman is letting his Misfits roots shine through here and it results in making this supernatural comedy horror a cut above the rest.

Crazyhead is streaming on Netflix and can be downloaded as well.  Head on over and catch this one. This series  is irreverent, funny, rude and worth every minute that one spends watching this brilliant offering from E4.

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‘Crazyhead’ Episode 4: Penguin or Cow? – Burger King (Recap/Review)

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Crazyhead Episode 4 “Penguin or Cow?” Suzanne is being held prisoner by Callum Weaver and he plans to use her to lure Amy away from Raquel. We learn more about why the half-demon girl is so important; she is a portal.

The two girls spend the night at Raquel and Tyler’s apartment since Amy does not want to stay in her flat with Suzanne missing. Raquel has two sets of pajamas; both are onesies and she offers Amy the choice of “penguin or cow” onesie.

Amy takes the penguin and goes to make them both a cup of tea. Earlier Jake professes his love for Amy who explains that the timing is a bit off at the moment. Later she and Tyler have sex. She has a prophetic dream about Suzanne and a bloke attacking Raquel.

She also wets the bed. Sneaking out she starts dressing when Raquel asks what she is doing. Amy explains that it now appears that she can tell the future and that she wet the bed.

Tyler comes out of his room with the soiled bedding and Amy lies saying that the sex was so good that it caused her to wet the bed.

Amy and Raquel get Jake to take them to single mum/demon Mercy’s house so they can question her. The girls send Jake back to the car and go into Mercy’s house. She is there with her son and she is baking muffins.

Raquel comes up with Mercy who is putting her son to be and Amy stays to take out the burnt muffins. Mercy knocks Raquel down the stairs and Amy goes up to get the demon.

Mercy wins out over Amy but not until after she stabs the demon with a model jet plane. She also tries to strangle Mercy with a toy snake. The demon escapes and heads over to Weaver’s house.

She learns of his plans to remove Amy from the equation and that they need Raquel to open the gates of Hell. He also explains that he never reveals his demon face as a sign of self control. Instead, Callum says, he beats someone to death and releases all his frustration that way.

Callum brings Suzanne a meal, an innocent bystander picked up at Burger King by his henchmen. “That’s why you shouldn’t go to Burger King,” says Callum. Amy’s roommate holds off as long as she can but caves in and calls Amy giving her the address where she is being held.

The head demon then takes out her “takeaway” meal and snaps the lad’s neck. He wants Suzanne good and hungry for when Amy shows up.

Raquel, Jake and Amy go to rescue Suzanne. They split up and Amy goes to rescue Suzanne. They go into the lift (elevator) and Callum’s demons shut the electric off, trapping the ravenous Suzanne and Amy on the fourth floor.

Jake and Raquel try to open the lift doors and Amy cuts herself so that Suzanne can feed.  The demons turn the electric back on and the lift goes back to the top floor.

Suzanne leaps from the opened door. Grabbing the waiting demon she takes them both out of the 12th floor window. They both die and part of Amy’s dream has come true. The second part, where Harry attacks Raquel has yet to happen.

Harry has tracked Raquel down to her flat and calls her for a date. Raquel agrees and Amy sees Harry from the window. She rushes downstairs to warn Raquel but she is too late.

So far Crazyhead continues to be that perfect blend of “Misfits” irreverence and comic horror. Tony Curran is still the master at downplaying his role as the demon leader. (Such as change from his character on Defiance. Cara Theobald and Susan Wokoma are the perfect double act and Lu Corfield is just brilliant as Mercy.

The comedy still verges on the rude and crude, the whole “portal to Hell is Raquel’s vagina” was hysterical. (As was the “would you rather it be her arsehole?”)

The dynamic between all the characters is spot on and the “love triangle” between Tyler, Jake and Amy is amusing.  It looks like Jake may be left out in the cold after Amy’s inadvertent affair with Raquel’s brother Tyler.

It looks like Raquel may be in danger with Harry and Amy will have to pull out all the stops to help her new friend.

Crazyhead is streaming on Netflix and can also be downloaded to watch offline. All six episodes are available right now.

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‘Crazyhead’ Episode 2: A Pine Fresh Scent – I Remember Daddy (Review)

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As Crazyhead, episode two “A Pine Fresh Scent” continues the “Buffy-like” atmosphere a lot more is revealed about this demon filled verse. The demon who “hangs around” is not Raquel’s former lover, he’s her dad.

In an expository scene we learn that a demon infested her father  just before having intercourse with her mum. The end result is that she is now “half-demon” which explains her ability to see them and to royally kick their butts…sometimes.

The “Misfits” touch is still present as Raquel and Amy talk a lot about sex, jizz and, at one point, Raquel’s brother Tyler believes he is going to have wild and wanton sex with Amy.

Callum puts out the word that he wants Raquel’s father taken care of and Mercy rises to the task with a few of her minions. Amy drags Jake into the fracas and we learn how to dispatch demons. (A shard of ice driven through the chest on the surface of an ice rink.)

After killing Suzanne in the previous episode, Amy and Raquel go to buy a couple of spades to bury Amy’s former roomie. As they shop at what appears to be a giant Costco, Raquel grabs two tins of Tango and a couple of large spoons.

As they head to the till, they ask if the store sells spades. After freaking them out by alluding to the two women burying a body, the clerk then orders two spades to be brought to the checkout. He does this a number of times.

The two women then bury Suzanne in the woods.

There is still a lot of comic moments in this episode where the show’s creator leaves the Misfits template alone and pays a homage to Shaun of the Dead. (The scene in the nearly deserted store with the vapid music playing over the store’s PA system is reminiscent of the first Cornetto film and Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and the 2008 remake.)

Much of the humor comes from the fact that these two demon hunters are not necessarily the sharpest tools in the shed.  Amy, whose day job is working in a bowling alley, appears to be slightly smarter than Raquel but that may be because the half-demon girl has trouble communicating.

Callum is adamant that the trouble making demon daddy be killed and the violence displayed is, once more, less Bruce Lee and more brute force. There is a brilliant bit of fighting “backstage” at the ice rink where Amy takes a demon out with a giant penguin figure.

Another one is used to knock out Raquel, only this time it is a demon doing the damage. The unconscious demon hunter is taken out on the ice to watch her father get stabbed with a “dick – sized” bit of ice.

Raquel shows some of her demon side by telekinetically smacking down the demons threatening her dad, but too late to save him from being sent back to Hell.

Of course the big shock of the episode is when the “dead” Suzanne comes back from the freshly dug grave. Amy dreams of her bestie turning back up and while brushing her teeth, Suzanne appears behind her.

“You killed me you silly b*tch.”

Cue end credits.  It now appears that Raquel’s formula for driving out the demon inside Suzanne worked after a very dodgy fashion. What remains to be seen is whether Raquel’s father can come back and just how far Callum is willing to go.

Crazyhead is available to stream or download on Netflix. All six episodes are up on the site for binging.

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