Some movies are so bad they’re fun. “Tie Die” isn’t one of them. What should have been a ridiculous, campy horror-comedy about a killer bear and a bunch of doomed hippies instead turns into a sluggish, amateurish, and painfully unfunny mess. Even with the cult appeal of Lloyd Kaufman and Joe Bob Briggs, this one completely misses the mark.
The film has all the making of a cult comedy, from bad acting (it’s legit terrible, but not in the fun, over-the-top way you’d hope for), a wacky plot (that sounds so much better than it is), and old school practical effects (at least this element of the movie is done well). Even with a checklist of horror standards, the film feels awkward and lifeless, making it impossible to care about any of the characters or their predicaments. Worst of all, writer / director Morgan Miller doesn’t even fully commit to the camp factor that could have made it enjoyable.
The practical effects are the only thing the film gets right, and there are some scenes that feature good old-fashioned gore that will delight hardcore fans of midnight horror movies. This makes it all the more disappointing when the film completely derails by leaning into psychedelic horror elements, which add nothing but confusion and unnecessarily slow moments.
The pacing is all over the place, with long, pointless interludes that make an already thin premise feel like an absolute drag. The hippie massacre kills aren’t creative enough (or frequent enough) to be fun or funny, and the film’s attempts at being weird and “trippy” just make it even more of a chore to sit through. It’s like the movie was made with the assumption that the audience would be high enough to not care about how bad it is.
Even for fans of second-rate horror, “Tie Die” isn’t worth it. It’s not clever, it’s not fun, and worst of all, it’s not even “so bad it’s good.”
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 