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Horror is always the domain of the unexpected but even we didn’t see this one coming. The trailer for new comedy-horror Hanky Panky has dropped and it teases a movie with the most absurd of premises: an evil top hat is trying to take over the world. The only things that can stand in its way? A man – and his talking napkin. Obviously.
Starring a cast made up entirely of roles named after Cheers characters (with the exception, of course, of Seth Green’s Harry the Hat), the trailer for Hanky Panky – which you can watch above – takes us on a surreal journey from a tried-and-tested horror trope of a cabin in the woods through to a showdown with said evil top hat. It all comes together in a package that’s part-knowing wink to the ludicrousness of the genre and seemingly a madcap adventure in its own right.
On the method behind the madness, co-directors Lindsey Haun and Nick Roth wrote on the official Hanky Panky website, "Hanky Panky was inspired by the way certain zany comedies like Wet Hot American Summer and Caddyshack seemed to capture the energy of locking their whole cast and crew together in, say, a summer camp, or a coke-orgy fueled hotel in the middle of a Florida hurricane with Chevy Chase -- and then somehow get that energy on screen."
They continued: "It was a true anarcho-communist-guerilla production: literally no budget, nobody got paid, everyone chipped in for food and drugs, and we all cooperatively own the film now…. A friend who shoots porn let us borrow his lights."
The website also promises a four-minute fight scene between the napkin and top hat, bundled with the tantalizing genre: Puppets & Blood. Sure, why not?
Hanky Panky will be available on digital storefronts from April 19. For more from the genre, check out our ranking of the best horror movies and a look ahead to upcoming horror movies getting set to scare you silly.
