“You’re “Better Off Dead,” than taking a trip down “Rosewood Lane.”

Remember Savage Steve Holland‘s comedic take on teenage angst and suicide, “Better Off Dead?”

You probably don’t, though if anything stuck, it’s the psychotic paperboy, and the way his catchphrase “Two dollars…” struck fear into the heart of Lane (John Cusack).

Victor Silva‘s “Rosewood Lane,” quite possibly one of the silliest films I have EVER seen, despite not being a comedy, takes the premise of an insane paperboy and kicks it up a few notches.  It’s an odd idea, though the problem is that very little in the film rings true, more so than the concept itself.

The movie cheats excessively (and the ending not only doesn’t tell how the paperboy was able to do what he did, but also fails to explain why no one would have kicked the living crap out of him–other than the script didn’t want it to happen, that is) and is scary only in it’s remarkable inconsistency.

And to refer back to Holland’s film, which was deliberately silly, so it was easier to accept how determined (to collect his two dollars)  and bizarre the paperboy was. Silva treats his film as if it were Hitchcock, which makes virtually every scene that follows more outlandish than that which came earlier.

So, in conclusion, you’re “Better Off Dead,” than taking a trip down “Rosewood Lane.”