“City of Fear”, a film by Dummies!

Odile is at the film market in Cannes to promote “Red Is Dead”, a horror film like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” where a communist serial killer murders his victims  with a sickle and a hammer. But the room is always empty before the end of the screening. Fortunately enough for the press officer, a series of murders similar to those in the film -the projectionists of “red is dead” are killed the same way- gets the film out of anonymity and make a unexpected publicity.

Simon, the lead actor who has not acted since the release of the film at Cannes is recalled by Odile. The latter assigns him a bodyguard, Serge Karamazov, who, smarter than ever, already suspects the presence of a “serial killer”.

Cult film if any, “City of Fear” is full of gags. It captivates the audience from beginning to end  by keeping the suspense in the most absurd way. The non-sense humor of the “dummies team” is absutely great and it takes several viewings to identify all the brainwaves of the film, some dumber than the others. A few memorable passages – the Carioca, the chase, the outcome – are still etched in the collective memory.

With among others: Chantal Lauby, Alain Chabat, Dominique Farrugia and Gérard Darmon. A movie directed by Alain Barberian in 1994.