FILM THREAT
Reviewed by Eric Campos
"Brilliant"
"Highly Entertaining!"
✮✮✮✮
So what would happen if we had a superhero flying around? No really. Comic books, TV shows and movies have been giving us their fantastic versions of what would happen for years. But what would you do if you were to look out your window right now and saw a guy in a red cape flying through the sky? Make some yucky in your pants is a given. But what happens after that? The filmmakers of “Superguy: Behind the Cape” answer that question and I think they’re absolutely correct.
Produced like a bonafide documentary you would see on A&E or the Discovery Channel, “Superguy” starts us off with home movies and pictures of Mark Trent as a child. Many of these pictures feature the boy performing inhuman acts such as lifting an elephant with one arm and floating in the air behind his friends. Yeah, Mark was a special boy and his father, who ran his own gas station and still, was no dummy. He saw opportunity and started pimping out his son to the circus, helping create Mark’s “Superguy” identity. But as he grew older and his powers became stronger, Mark turned into quite the difficult little boy to handle. One of the funniest parts of the film has Mark’s father, now a bitter drunk, blathering on about the problems he had with his boy – “He beat the shit out of me one day, the little Martian!”
We’re then shown how the world reacts when they first see a caped man flying through the sky. Like a helicopter traffic news reporter says – HOLY SHIT! Breaking news reports inform the shocked public that what they are seeing is not some kind of Hollywood stunt. There’s actually a man flying around in a cute little outfit and even though it appears that he poses no threat, in fact he’s fighting crime and rescuing people from burning buildings, citizens are advised not to interact with him. You never know, he just may bite.
But once the shock has worn off and this flying being is proven to be the world’s first superhero, Superguy mania begins. His likeness appears on every sort of collectable imaginable, as well as billboards and covers of magazines, he even stars in a couple of films. But that’s just the tip of the sno cone. With “Superguy” the filmmakers cover just about every angle on what a world with a real superhero in it would be like. There are religions (called Supies) based around the figure, the police are upset that someone without a badge is meddling in their work, many suicides occur as people try and fly off the tops of buildings, other people try suing the hero saying that he knocked them off the roof of their home because “he wasn’t watching where the hell he was going” and journalists out looking for a little dirt reveal that Superguy in fact likes to get hammered and smoke cigarettes at bars. These angles and so many more are explored in this brilliant mockumentary. Most of the laughs in “Superguy” come from the filmmakers poking fun at how stupid society often is. This superhero is here to help us and what do we do to repay him? Jump up his ass. Highly entertaining!
Entertainment Today
Reviewed by Brent Simon
"Masterpiece"
Bill Lae and Mark Teague's collaboration (in which Teague also stars) is a micro-budget masterpiece, a Behind the Music-type examination of the turbulent days and nights of a real American superhero whose life
suspiciously mirrors that of the fictitious Superman. Hollywood would throw 50 times as much money at this simple concept, but there's an engaging completeness to Superguy's comedic arc from the PSAs
advising copycat leapers not to follow his lead and jump from buildings to an interview special with a Barbara Walters-like reporter that marks the movie as one of Dances With Films' true treats.
KCLA, KLAS, KPRO, KMAX stations on American Radio Network
Reviewed by Gerri Garner
"Stunning"
"Superguy: Behind the Cape" directed by Bill Lae and written by him and Mark Teague, plays Tuesday, July 16th at 12:30pm. It is a stunning mockumentary on a super hero from Los Angeles done to a turn by Mark
Teague. We get a glimpse of his personal life as well as his heroic accomplishments. He even has his own collector cards. I highly recommend this one. In fact I'd love to see this as a series in syndication, it is soooooooooooo clever!
"Hysterical"
“I Loved it in the first thirty seconds,”
“I’m blown away!”
-Chris Gore, Film Threat
Winston-Salem Journal
Reviewed by Mark Burger
"Uproarious"
"Breakout film"
“Forget about Daredevil or X-Men –
SuperGuy overpowers both of them”
What This is Spinal Tap did for heavy metal, SuperGuy does for superheroes. This ingeniously assembled and often uproarious mockumentary makes all the right moves - and could well be a breakout film at the festival.
Mark Teague is perfect in the title role, that of a true-blue superhero
whose life is chronicled in a reality-based TV documentary. This affords
director Bill Lae an opportunity to spoof both reality-TV and superhero
stereotypes - and he takes full advantage of it. Forget about Daredevil or X-Men - SuperGuy overpowers both of them, and is certainly funnier – and more prescient - than either. If SuperGuy is a one-joke movie, then the one joke is a great one.
The original Superman (1978) boasted the ad line "You'll believe a man can fly." With SuperGuy, you may not believe he can fly - dig those wacky special effects! - but you'll probably be laughing too hard to care.
“Superhero fans, rejoice!”
“One of my favorite Independent flicks of the year.”
-Michael Osadciw / Home Theater Forum
“I can’t recommend this one enough.”
“This is funny stuff.”
-Rich Rosell / Digitally Obsessed
“A must for any Fanboy’s DVD collection.”
“Funny and Poignant.”
“Provokes thought as much as laughter.”
“Risky, bold, and heartfelt.”
-Derek McCaw / Fanboy Planet
“SuperGuy is just Super!”
“I have never seen anyone do that which has been accomplished by the filmmakers behind ‘SuperGuy: Behind the Cape.’ ”
-Chris Brown / Comics2Film
“Very Smart”
“The script is smart, the laughs are plentiful…”
-Ian Jane / DVD Talk
“The Ultimate Super Hero Mockumentary”
- Shawn Patty / Silver Bullet Comic Books