A.K.A. The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim
Directed by Don Swanson, written and created by Joe Fishel (who also stars in the film), following a group of high school Latin American History class students, who learn to regret their decision to not fully appreciate the Liberator of Brazil. Starring: André Santana, Rachel O’Day, Madeline Sclichter, Christopher Kai, Allen Enlow, Jaden Brown, Angela Kuzel, Anthony Babeaux, Valena Zitello, Benjamin Sheeler and Jess Uhler.
As you enter The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro there’s a quickly unveiled mix of 2000s straight to home video style movies and 1950s decidedly indie, b-movie horror and mystery. It’s a quirky blend and one that goes heavy on the parody feel. Especially in that quintessential old-school way of everything being so overtly laid out, they pour it on nice and thick. The choice of plot also comes across as another nod to those cheesy indie classics, having a group of teens pay little attention, have little respect for authority, culture or heritage and be entirely unprepared to pay the price.
All of the choices from Don Swanson and Joe Fishel feel very intentional to evoke that feel of low-budget, high energy, enthusiastic and naïve. They tap directly into that but also add in some extra satire notes with the faux-promotional content within The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro. Arguably, the bigfoot movies are some of the strongest parodies that the film has to offer. However, by choosing to add in those extra details, they are also taking attention away from the main story and it does suffer a little because of that.
There isn’t a great deal of development and there’s a tendency to float off on tangents or musical interludes. It feels as though it needed to tighten the focus back to the key plot and add in some more twists and turns to give a bigger sense of variety. Especially because using that particularly old-school style does keep the direction quite simple and static.
We’re also missing those violent notes to add a bit of the macabre, it’s surprisingly light throughout. It has hints of the little known made for TV horror starring David Hasselhoff, Terror at London Bridge but much more PG. There are some nice similarities with its tongue-in-cheek tone, dose of cheesiness and historical villain. Its penchant for music and overall family-friendly vibe also throw back slightly to 1959’s The Giant Gila Monster.
Something that the ensemble in particular bring to the table strongly, especially that sense of naivety and curiosity in its young leads. They tick all the typical boxes for those characters, much too concerned with themselves and technology to pay attention to the ill-fate coming their way and don’t take it nearly serious enough when it does. They feel intensely reminiscent of teens you’d find in 1950s movies, so trapped within their own little bubbles and prized for a fall. Then as the adults sporadically come into the equation throughout the film, they add some great eccentric notes, particularly Prince Dom Pedro’s sarcasm and general lack of patience for their teen antics.
Ultimately, The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro has a nicely playful concept, and you can undoubtedly see the intention and vision behind it, but the comedy is slightly off the mark to truly hit that parody note with a punch. It feels as though it’s distracted and putting its energies into expanding its world before it has fleshed it out enough. There’s a strong silliness, cheesiness and naivety that’s a great throwback, it’s nostalgic and purposefully clumsy. The cast really effectively lean into the tone that Don Swanson and Joe Fishel created. Although, it would have been fun to see their bigfoot parody expanded even further, its satire of the nature of horror sequels was right on the money.
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