You know a movie is bad when it was inspired by a throwaway gag in a Chris Rock (“Top Five”) movie. Like the “Ernest” series before it, the “Madea” franchise is rather tiresome and this Halloween instalment makes that very clear.

Madea (Tyler Perry “Diary Of A Mad Black Woman”, “Madea Goes To Jail”) finds her services called upon on Halloween night. Her great-niece is trying to sneak out to party with some fraternity boys so Madea must ensure that she stays safe. It’s a night of tricks and pranks with ghosts, clowns and zombies but Madea isn’t about to be outdone by some youths.

The Madea character is awful. It’s hard to believe how many movies the character has appeared in. The character is so one-dimensional. She’s an aggressive, foul-mouthed black lady and guess what? She’s played by a guy. We had an era of black guys in drag with “Norbit”, “Big Momma’s House” and “White Chicks” yet Perry’s character has managed to hang around a lot longer. The other characters are just absolutely horrendous. They have less personality than Madea. The fraternity boys are perhaps the blandest characters ever in a comedy film. Remember how good the guys were in “Animal House”? Well, imagine the opposite of them.

The plot in this film is non-existent. Nothing really happens and we just find ourselves trapped for what feels like an eternity with some of the worst characters in comedy film history. Also, this film makes poor use of its Halloween setting. It’s hardly consequential to the plot and this could have easily been about the young girl trying to sneak to a fraternity party on any day of the year. The only thing worth laughing at is the fact that there are suckers out there that will pay to see this.