Since the turn of the century, it has become very popular in horror movies to randomly inflict excruciating pains on people that are generally innocent and didn't deserve all the agony. Movie franchises like "Saw", "Hostel" and all of their knock-offs made us very familiar with the term Torture Porn and the nowadays younger fans of the genre don't get upset anymore at the sight of sadist devices that cut off toes or poke out eyeballs. Of course, when a 'new' gimmick in films turns out to be successful, it immediately gets exploited beyond normal proportions. It has even come thus far that themes like torture, child abduction and blood vengeance are processed together into a horror … comedy! Yes, "Otis" is primarily intended as a comedy, but personally I still prefer to see it more as a horror flick with some light-headed elements. It's a surprisingly good HORROR film, with a couple of imaginative gore sequences and interesting characters, whereas the comedy aspects are rather lame and derivative, like obnoxious authority figures and character mix-ups. Otis Broth is an obese and pathetic pizza delivery boy; pushing forty and still under the strict supervision of his older brother who regularly comes over to insult and beat him. But Otis loves to escape into his very own perverted and psychopathic fantasy world, where he is the hunky quarterback of the high-school football team and eagerly anticipates to attend the school prom with his sexy sweetheart Kim. But his "Kim" doesn't exist, so Otis abducts pretty blond girls that he spots during his pizza rounds and subjects them to humiliating ordeals until they play along. When the foxy Riley Lawson manages to escape his dungeon, her family prefers to extract their own justice rather than to let the uncooperative FBI handle the case. "Otis" has a good pace, highly enjoyable horror moments, great performances from a terrific not-so-obvious cast and … a downright phenomenal soundtrack! Anyone interested in classic rock and/or pop songs from Talking Heads, Quiet Riot and Blue Oyster Cult? As said, the comical situations aren't very noteworthy – even though Jere Burns depicts a delightfully slimy FBI agent – but the plot is solid and well- elaborated. The torture set pieces are often gross, but realized with splendid make-up effects. Recommended!

Obese loser pedophile psycho and pizza delivery guy Otis (superbly played to creepy and intense perfection by Bostin Christopher) abducts lovely young teenager Riley (a winningly sparky portrayal by the foxy Ashley Johnson). However, Ashley manages to escape from Otis' clutches and alerts her family about where Otis lives. Things go extremely awry when the family decides to take matters into their own hands. Director Tony Krantz and writers Erik Jendresen and Thomas Schnauz ably concoct a wickedly warped, quirky, and often hilarious horror black comedy gut-buster that viciously satirizes the incompetence and insensitivity of the FBI and media alike, the dangerous foibles of gung-ho vigilantism, the varying degrees of psychosis existent in American culture (in an especially neat, inspired, and downright subversive touch, Riley's family prove to be every bit as crazy and deadly as Otis),and how basically everyone has a latent capacity for extreme violence and brutality. The fine acting by the top-notch cast keeps the movie humming: Daniel Stern as meek dad Will, Illeana Douglas as brassy take-charge mom Kate, Kevin Pollack as Otis' angry and abusive older brother Elmo, Jere Burns as the sleazy and inept Agent Hotchkiss, Jared Kusnitz as Riley's delinquent brother Reed, and Tracey Scoggins as tactless news anchorwoman Rita Vitale. The first-rate dynamic soundtrack of choice rock songs gives the picture an extra kinetic buzz. Thomas Yatsko's glossy cinematography provides a stunningly bright and attractive look. An absolute riot.

Aside from the time that Daniel Stern came to Lewis & Clark College (where I was a student) in September 2004 to tell about his USO trip to Iraq the previous year*, I was wondering what had become of him. It turns out that he still appears in movies, and he starred in a pretty neat black comedy. "Otis" casts Bostin Christopher as the title character, a pizza delivery guy with a go-nowhere life. But he loves Kim: that's the name that he gives girls whom he kidnaps, including Riley Lawson (Ashley Johnson). Mostly a typical kidnapping story.

However, the second half of the movie looks like a totally different movie. You see, Riley's mother (Illeana Douglas) has her own idea of how to carry out justice, and she gets the father (Daniel Stern) and brother to cooperate. Surprisingly, it wasn't an incredibly gory scene, but I would still call it a guilty pleasure. Overall, the movie pokes fun at the suburban lifestyle - complete with the brother's unsavory version of film-making - and horror flicks. Think of it as "Silence of the Lambs" meets "American Beauty". To crown everything, there's even a smarmy detective.

All in all, worth seeing, and I still say that Daniel Stern is a better actor than he gets credit for. Also starring Kevin Pollak and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs.

*While Stern was in Iraq, some Iraqi children recognized him from "Home Alone". This made him realize the extent and impact of American culture.