Bad Milo! (Movie review)

Are you the kind of horror buff that enjoys some unfiltered humor with your kills? Well if you answered yes, then look no further, Bad Milo! is a one of a kind gem just for you.  Originally released in the U.S. on August 29, 2013 the film also appeared at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.  Now in 2014, the film is available on Blu-ray and DVD via Magnolia Home Entertainment as of January 21st.  Written by by Benjamin Hayes and Jacob Vaughan (who is also the director), Bad Milo! allows the promising young duo the chance to put all their creative ideas together behind a full-length film.

Still from Bad Mlio!

Bad Milo! is about an over-worked and stressed-out accountant named Duncan (played Ken Marino). Duncan is consumed by his horrible boss Phil (played Patrick Warburton), unhelpful co-workers, and his girlfriend Sarah (played Gillian Jacobs), who wants children that he cannot afford.  Duncan just can’t seem to deal with all of the exhausting issues surrounding him which is inevitably depleting his sanity. He starts to have these terrible stomach pains which become increasingly worse, ending up in volcanic diarrhea and him passes out. Little does Duncan know, the pains are coming from an internal creature that is part of his intestines – a creature he decides to name Milo. What we learn is that Milo is the subconscious creation of Duncan’s unmanageable anxiety and worry. Milo’s way to resolve these issues is by killing anyone who hurts or upsets Duncan. Duncan’s therapist Highsmith (played by Peter Stormare) helps him come to terms with this new addition in his life and figure out a way to manage Milo. His therapist helps to try to find the root of his self-destruction and makes him reconnect with his long lost father Roger (played by Stephen Root). Once the therapy session begins, Duncan finds that this condition appears to be genetic.

Still from Band Milo!

Once Milo becomes uncontrollable, Duncan decides that he needs to get rid of him. After his attempts, he realizes that since Milo is a part of him, he can’t kill Milo without killing himself. This revelation leads Duncan to start accepting Milo and learning to change his life so he does not destroy himself.

Bad Milo! is smart, quirky, touching, and in so many ways relatable. It has the great horror we love with the additional bonus of an extremely original and funny story-line. With that being said, the part that seemed most enlightening about this film is the message behind all of it. Milo is such a great metaphor for the lives so many of us lead, where stress and unhappiness consumes us to the point of practically killing ourselves. Hopefully we can all take something positive from Bad Milo! and learn to let go of the things that are hurting us so we can live a longer, positive, and more fruitful life. CrypticRock gives Bad Milo! 4 out of 5 stars.

Magnet Releasing

Bad Milo! can be seen on Netflix and rented/purchased through Amazon.