Ten years ago I snuck into my first Sick and Twisted Festival using the worst fake ID made since the invention of the photocopier. Perhaps the collection of stomach-turning gross-out shorts really was laugh-out-loud funny back then, or perhaps it was just the combo of immaturity and generic beer that had me rolling in the aisles. If the lineup for the 2004 edition is any indication, I would bet my ten bucks on the latter.

Gone is the kilt-wearing Scotty dog that opened and closed the show since its inception, gone is the fat man in the Viking helmet that emceed the event at the Ridge for years, but back again are the lame No Neck Joe cartoons, the heavy stench of dope in the theatre, and the lowbrow wit that only a horny stoned teenage male could enjoy. If you crave the sights of a chicken mascot humping a referee, a frog passing through the bowel system of a crudely-drawn man, a hippie getting stuffed into an oversized juicer, or a dog engaging in a tasteless love affair with a pillow, then get in line before this show leaves town.

In the last ten years of the festival, traditional cell and clay animation has given way to computer generated films that are a total waste of perfectly good technology - the worst on this night was the interminable Rip Wack, featuring skateboarding stoners on the lam from a tenacious security guard. And local filmmaker Toby Grauberger poorly represents the Vancouver Film School with his stale CGI videogame promo Baby Hunter. Two lone bright spots are the return of the accident-prone Happy Tree Friends, including a holiday-themed bloodbath just in time for Christmas, and the weirdly satirical Proper Urinal Etiquette, animated like an instructional video from the 1950s.

The last decade has also introduced political correctness to a whole new generation of artists and audiences, which explains why most of these films hardly even qualify as sick or twisted. (The most offensive sight at the Ridge that night was the projectile vomit that graced an entire restroom wall.) And while their web site suggests that Spike & Mike receive thousands of submissions a year, that number seems high given the low quality of the new films shown, and the need to dust off such classics as the misogynistic stickman cartoon Ah, L'Amour. If Sick and Twisted is this unfunny now, imagine how bad it will be ten years from now, as I try to score a discounted ticket using a fake seniors' card.