The Funnyman isn't just a killer - he's a prankster and trickster as well, and as such he enjoys toying with his victims. This character quirk is interesting early on, with the neatest being a setpiece involving an art gallery that recalls the most effective bit from Mario Bava's Kill, Baby, Kill!.

But the longer the film goes, the less amusing and more protracted the set-ups become. The Funnyman just isn't as funny as he thinks he is; the nadir in this respect is the killing of the character billed as Hard Man, whose death via spike heel to the eye in no way justifies the overlong and unfunny set-up involving pricey wigs, ugly strippers, Complimentary Beer and a back-alley argument. Surely there was an easier way to off this guy while still staying true to the character, no?

The most shameful thing about this film, though, isn't its failure or lack of ambition. What really irks is that, from the evidence here, Sprackling and company are capable of good things. The first half hour or so is promising; it balances the goofy and the gross without sliding into gross incompetence. The Funnyman is allowed to be menacing while still keeping his prankish edge, and there's some low-grade tension developed by certain scenes (again, I must cite the art-gallery scene). Most importantly, though, Sprackling demonstrates a talented eye for composition that normally eludes the creators of lowest-common-denominator slasher flicks. I was especially impressed by his understanding of screen space; there's a funny gag early on that depends on proper framing, and Sprackling's use of foreground/background in regards to the running gag involving the fella in the shopping cart is consistently amusing.

Sprackling's talent, though, is leavened by an equal talent towards self-sabotage. Take the early scene wherein our main character, a venal record producer, listens to an unmarked demo tape with evil properties. It's a well-paced and well-shot sequence that builds quite effectively... or it would be if it wasn't cut together with two other setpieces. The sequence still retains some of its power, but it would have been so much more effective if it didn't keep getting interrupted. This tendency towards unnecessary cross-cutting holds through the whole of Funny Man, which not only defangs the good parts but makes the intolerable parts that much more extended and annoying.