Carlos Davis and Anthony Fingleton's superb 1991 film 'Drop Dead Fred' was the late Rik Mayall's first and best Hollywood movie. It was all about an imaginary childhood friend who comes back from the past to help ( or should that be haunt? ) a young woman when her personal life takes a turn for the worst. At the time, 'Drop Dead Fred' was a massive flop. Many criticised the makers for poking fun at the mentally ill. 'Drop Dead Fred' did not poke fun at anything. If anything it highlighted in a comedic manner the effects of emotional abuse.Elizabeth Cronin is an introverted, easily-led young woman whose marriage to the smug and deceitful Charles has come to a bitter end. To make matters worse, she is forced to move back in with her vain, selfish, domineering mother Polly. Upon arriving at the house she grew up in, she starts sorting through her past possessions and comes across a taped-up jack-in-a-box. Opening it, out pops Fred, who was imprisoned in the box by Elizabeth's mother many years previous. Fred's presence in Elizabeth's life is not a welcome one. He smears dog poo on Polly's newly shampooed carpet, sinks the houseboat of Elizabeth's best friend and even drives his childhood friend to the point of insanity where she ends up on strong medication to eradicate him.Just as Elizabeth is about to get Fred out of her life for good, the normally havoc wreaking fiend informs her that Charles ( who she has attempted to reconcile with ) is still cheating on her, which she later finds out for herself when she overhears him making a flirtatious phone call. After a brief inner turmoil, Fred eventually manages to persuade Elizabeth to dump Charles and stand up to her vindictive mother.Rik Mayall hams it up wonderfully in the leading role. Fred is an ill mannered, hyperactive, ham-fisted nutter who cannot hold an object in his hands for more than a second without breaking it, but in Rik's hands he was somehow lovable. 'Gremlins' star Phoebe Cates ( what a babe she was! ) serves as a good foil for the sublime Mayall. Tim Matheson and Marsha Mason both made for convincing adversaries for Fred and Elizabeth. Also turning in fine performances are Carrie Fisher, Ashley Pendon, Ron Eldard and Daniel Gerroll. Bridget Fonda has an uncredited role here as Annabella, the floozy who Charles is cheating on Elizabeth with.'Drop Dead Fred' is an overlooked little work of art that deserves a far better reception than the one it got on its cinematic release. Randy Edeleman's wonderfully mischievous theme tune really gets the feet moving and, alongside the music he wrote for 'Billy Madison' and 'Beethoven', must rank as one of the best ever written for a film. A few years back a remake of 'Drop Dead Fred' was planned with Russell Brand playing the title role. Fortunately, it did not go ahead. After all, who would stump up the cash to see a talentless twerp play a part that has already been played to perfection by a comedy genius?Favourite bit? Fred trying to free his head from the fridge after it has become trapped in the door. Eventually, he manages to get out but his head is left looking as flat as a pancake!

Y'know, when I first saw this movie as a child (about 10 years old), I hated it. I thought the humour was vulgar and predictable, the effects were unconvincing at best and the characters trying to resemble real life ended up being so stereotypical, even Punch-Out would be jealous. But after watching it again, I realized something...IT'S EVEN WORSE NOW! Not only do all the complaints I put before still apply, but the psychological side of this movie is just terrifying. Nothing these characters do is logical and they frequently break out into behavior we would deem as unacceptable or even insane. The concept of fantasy meets reality is completely shot in the foot if THIS is the reality you're creating.The only decent thing in this movie and I'm really pushing it is when Fred interacts with the other imaginary friends. I must admit, that idea, while still immature, had some potential.Apart from that, this movie is unacceptably bad. Without a doubt, the worst movie I've ever seen.

Classic late 80's/early 90's comedy. Maybe it's all the horror I've been watching but i saw this as your basic child talking to or possessed by a demon flick in which all the gruesome occult imagery was replaced with campy British physical humor. Lizzie has an awful day, her imaginary friend Drop Dead Fred reappears and proceeds to create chaos in her life. Hi jinks continue, then some really horrible in retrospect but probably cool when they happened special effects go down. Of course everyone ends up happy by the end of it. If nothing else there's a scene featuring Carrie Fisher smoking a cigarette while power- walking, that's a good enough reason to watch anything.

The always appealing Phoebe Cates plays the central character in this classic horror movie about a dangerously psychotic woman who is tormented by the emergence of her sociopathic other personality, a criminally deranged and manipulative version of Johnny Rotten. Out of control, she destroys her relationships, her family life, and her friend's boat, until eventually, betrayed by her overbearing mother and her philandering husband, she retreats into the only safe place left, the dark and lonely recesses of her own mind, where she must confront ghastly visions of her loved ones and the terrified child she once was.Finally, even her hallucinatory tormentor abandons her, and she regains her sanity at cost of turning her back on everyone and everything she has ever held dear. She begins a new life with the only man who has ever been oblivious enough to stand by her... oblivious enough not to notice even as the first signs emerge that her psychosis has begun to infect his only child...A seminal film, this dark masterpiece was clearly the inspiration for later phantasmagoric horror excursions like "The Mask", in which Jim Carrey plays a man who undergoes a hideous mutation, and "Amelie", a similar tale of a young woman dangerously disassociated from reality.