Nothing But Trouble is an interesting experiment. Oh yes, it’s bad, but I think I see what Akroyd was doing with this film when he settled into the director’s chair, and of course, he had his hand in the script as well.
He paired with his friends Chevy Chase, and John Candy and delivered what may have been the oddest film of 1991.
I realized, right from the off, that Akroyd has taken some typical horror trappings, including death traps, an overabundance of skeletal remains, as well as small, off-the-map towns filled with creepy characters. Characters find themselves caught up fighting for survival against serial murderers who have done this for a long time.
Instead of leaning into the horror of it, we have a group of four… associates?… who take a wrong turn and end up in trouble. Those four are led by Chris (Chase), who is driving with Diane (Demi Moore – kitted out like a 50s/60s pin-up) to Atlantic City for legal reasons. They are joined by two of Chris’ ‘friends,’ the brother and sister Brazilian duo, Fausto (Taylor Negron) and Renalda Squiriniszu (Bertila Damas).
They fall afoul of a police officer, Dennis (Candy) who brings them before Judge Valkenheiser (Akroyd in old man makeup). They are trying to find a way out, but Chris’ wisecracks aren’t helping, and Diane seems to be the only one able to make any real headway with the locals.
Both Akroyd and Candy pull double duty as a couple of characters each, some of them intent on menacing and killing the travellers.
The film never finds the right balance to be a horror comedy, leaning too far into the comedic aspects, which start to feel out of place against the trappings of the film. And that’s too bad, because there could have been something here. There are hints of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wrong Turn tucked away in this film, but they aren’t explored. Instead, the film always goes for the joke, which doesn’t always work.
The film infamously bombed at the box office, and this ended up being the only film Akroyd ever directed. Some of his visuals work wonderfully, and he’s not a horrible director, but I do think he needed to embrace the horror elements a little more and make this a more definable horror-comedy instead of a horror movie trapped in a comedy.
This one is not great, and there’s very little to redeem it, though there are some really funny pieces of dialogue. The film never finds its feet, and consequently it just doesn’t work.
It’s pretty bad. Skip it.
