It’s been over a decade since being first exposed to Canadian cult hit Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and Lee Demarbre’s wholesome filmmaking for mature audiences.  Underneath its goofy and ambitious premise about our lord and saviour socking it to some blood-suckers was an infectious love for filmmaking and community.  It’s main concern other than entertaining audiences was having fun with friends behind-the-scenes.  And while that rallying doesn’t always work for all indies, it benefited Demarbre’s funky flick and prevented it from being offensive.

A similar case can be made for the director’s latest romp Enter the Drag Dragon.  The movie is stuffed – perhaps overstuffed – with outrageous genre nonsense like zombies, mummies, androids, hauntings, and kung-fu, while also sinking itself in drag culture where drag artists aren’t treated as “performers” but rather everyday people.  The fighting sometimes includes dangerous “motorboating” and dildo-wielding choreography (including a jaw-dropping variation on nunchucks), bodies are humourously sliced up, and our leading drag detective goes through multiple facial reconstruction surgeries in a hilarious running joke (also giving other artists the chance to share the spotlight).  All of this accumulates towards an adventure involving a coveted map towards treasure.

Enter the Drag Dragon is high camp where comparisons to the work of John Waters are apt, especially when logic is dropped for gags and the performances have an awkward stiltedness to them.  However, Demarbre applies the same happy-go-lucky attitude that worked so well with Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, and it arguably works better here given how exaggerated the actors are asked to be.  The crude yet good-natured production team are all on the same frequency, and have a mutual love for making audiences laugh.  As the viewer, because the film’s entertainment values are consistent and clever, we have a good time with this wacky movie from beginning to end.  Enter the Drag Dragon offers big laughs and shocks, and we keep hanging on to see the next punch the filmmakers will pull.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie