Evil Bong 666 (2017)

Starring Mindy Robinson, Sonny Carl Davis, Michelle Mais, Robin Sydney, Jessica Morris, The Don, Bobby Ramos, Caleb Hurst, Orson Chaplin, Tonya Kay, Megan Sage, Samantha McGee, Brooks Davis

Directed by Charles Band

Expectations: Low.

On the general scale:

On the B-movie scale:

Despite the numbering, Evil Bong 666 is technically the series’ 7th entry, and for my money it’s one of the best Full Moon films in years. I know that isn’t saying a lot because Full Moon’s output has been pretty lackluster for a while, but just in terms of simple entertainment it’s probably the best Bong since Evil Bong 2: King Bong. Of course, your enjoyment will depend on your tolerance for the usual stoner logic and antics that fills these films, but I imagine anyone interested enough to read a review of a movie like Evil Bong 666 is on-board, strapped-in and ready to roll.

Evil Bong 666 follows the basic storefront formula of the last few Evil Bong films, but it changes up the energy by replacing the series’ star character, Larnell (John Patrick Jordan), with a new store owner, Lucy Furr (Mindy Robinson). This might seem like a small detail, but it changes the film’s course considerably. Instead of seeing Larnell and/or Rabbit (Sonny Carl Davis) handling a steady stream of customers — something we’ve seen way more than anyone ever needs to — now we have the devious, Satan-loving Lucy Furr taking care of business. It’s a whole new ballgame. It not only breathes life into the store scenes, it packs the bowl for another round. And thankfully, there’s actually not that many store scenes! I’d have preferred another David DeCoteau cameo instead of one of the lamer scenes, but you can’t win them all.

The shift in characters allows for hellish elements to infiltrate the series, which worked really well for me. Sexy Hell may just be essentially a re-skinned version of Bong World, and it may be obvious that’s it just one giant green-screen room, but it has an undeniable charm. It also brings back the mysterious actor known only as The Don from Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong. He plays Beelzebud, the ruler of Sexy Hell, and he’s a hoot. He’s not the kind of hoot to show Grandma’s Bridge Club on Saturday night, but to the right crowd he adds a considerable buzz that lasts well after the film is over. By far the best new character, though, is the Gingerweed Man. He’s completely different than I had expected, and he’s hilarious. That’s all I’ll say about him!

Evil Bong 666 also stands apart in how it deals with Full Moon’s now-standard, in-movie advertising. There’s still a lot, but it’s naturally laced into the fabric of the film so it never takes you out of the movie; this is Charles Band in-movie advertising 2.0, and I greatly appreciated the change of pace. I instantly recognized the Smoke Cartel stuff from their involvement in previous films, but I honestly didn’t even realize the Vapor Cup was an actual product until well into the movie. But it is, and I imagine they will sell a lot of them to the legion of stoners that might stumble upon this movie on Amazon or Hulu or wherever else Full Moon is able to infiltrate these days. Of course, the film is also available on Full Moon Streaming, but I imagine anyone watching it there is already a big fan and not stumbling into anything.

But probably the best and most encouraging thing about Evil Bong 666 is that the series finally took my advice. Evil Bong 666 is the first Full Moon movie in a very long time that doesn’t feature Hambo or try to hawk his line of racist dolls. This is such a welcome and positive change, and I hope it signals his absence from future films, too. I hate that I’m even mentioning the dolls and in turn giving them more press, but I really want to commend Full Moon on doing their best to make a pleasing entry that is actually more movie than ad. Against the odds, I’m actually looking forward to next year’s entry that is teased at the end of the film (don’t act surprised!).