Funny Man is a 1994 British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 film written and directed by Simon Sprackling.

Plot

When Max Taylor (Benny Young) wins the ancestral home of Callum Chance (Christopher Lee) in a game of poker, little does he realise that the game is far from over. After moving into the ancestral home with his family the nightmare begins after Max spins a wheel of chance, (a wheel with four parts, two saying win, and two saying lose). It lands upon lose, and this awakens a demonic creature that lives in the soil of the ancestral home. Soon, one by one, Max's family are murdered by this strange creature known as the Funny Man (Tim James), a Mr Punch-like jester with a varied and imaginative repertoire of homicidal techniques and a highly irreverent sense of humour. This sense of humour is shared with the audience. He is the only character that addresses the audience directly, as in a pantomime. He kills off Max's wife and both kids in gruesome yet humorous ways. Meanwhile Max's brother, Johnny Taylor (Matthew Devitt), is on his way to the mansion with a bunch of hitchhikers who will be lucky to survive the night.
Among the hitchhikers is a voodoo woman (Pauline Black) who after using tarot cards later learns about the awakening of the Funny Man.
At first, after arriving at the ancestral home, everything seems fine. But the Funny Man has made his targets, and his evil game has begun.
It soon becomes a Scooby-Doo Rock'n'Roll madhouse with bizzare scenes, gruesome kills and lots of humorous moments.

Cast

• Tim James
  Tim James
  Tim O'Connor James is a retired American professional basketball player who, in a three-year National Basketball Association career, played for the Miami Heat, the Charlotte Hornets and the Philadelphia 76ers. He also played professional basketball in Japan, Turkey and Israel...
  
   as Funny Man
• Christopher Lee
  Christopher Lee
  Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
  
   as Callum Chance
• Benny Young
  Benny Young
  Robert "Benny" Young is a Scottish film, television and stage actor.He was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Young trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow....
  
   as Max Taylor
• Matthew Devitt as Johnny Taylor
• Ingrid Lacey
  Ingrid Lacey
  Ingrid Lacey , is a British actress best known for her role as Helen Cooper in Drop the Dead Donkey. She was born in Surrey, educated at Godalming College and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 1981...
  
   as Tina Taylor
• Jamie Heard as Jammie Taylor
• Pauline Black
  Pauline Black
  Pauline Black in Romford is a British singer, actress and author most notable as the lead singer of The Selecter. Black was born to an Anglo-Jewish mother and Nigerian father. She was adopted by a white middle-aged couple and given the name Pauline Vickers...
  
   as Psychic commando

Awards

Funny Man was nominated at the Fantasporto

Fantasporto

Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...

in 1995 for the International Fantasy Best Film Award.