Broken Lizard, the five-man comedy troupe whose sleeper feature "Super Troopers" drew inspiration from those wacky "Police Academy" pictures, returns with a fresh effort that grafts together two additional staples of 1980s big-screen viewing -- the spring break comedy and the slasher picture. The resulting "Club Dread" works better than one might think, thanks to the group's modus operandi, which combines a fundamental reverence for the target material and a sly irreverence that's key to their skewering technique. There's the inevitable hit-and-miss aspect that goes with the territory, but there's also sufficient character-driven kookiness to propel it all agreeably along.

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