Wacky Movie Reviews by Mingusings

Greetings. I have decided to start a reviews thread for myself because we can always use more review threads. However, instead of reviewing your average, everyday movies that everyone has seen and reviewed, I am limiting my reviews to weird movies. “What do you mean by “weird movies?” you ask? Well, the answer to that is, I don’t really know. Maybe I’ll review some wacko Japanese movie or maybe a disturbing horror flick. In other words, my goal is to review movies that you haven’t seen and hopefully, if they are good, get more people to watch them.

Warning: I have not written many movie reviews in the past and, simply put, I’m a crappy writer. And the fact that I will be reviewing really weird movies does not make matters any better. So in advance, I apologize if my reviews suck!

Warning Part II: The movies I review will obviously be weird. If I do convince you to watch one of them, beware of potentially graphic violence, sexual content, or anything else that could possibly offend you.

Enjoy.

Ex Drummer (2007)
Directed by Koen Mortier
Language: Dutch
My Rating: +



“I really cannot describe the film I have just finished up watching,” is a statement which I fear I will be using a lot in this thread. However, this statement really applies to “Ex Drummer.” The film revolves around three self-proclaimed handicapped guys who want to form a band to participate in a band contest. They are not actually handicapped, but consider themselves to be handicapped. Their handicaps include homosexuality, misogyny, and another one that I can’t quite find the words for. The three guys are in desperate need of a fourth member of the band to be their drummer, so they hire a popular, local author, who is not all that he appears to be.

“Ex Drummer” is certainly one of the strangest films I have ever seen. In my first post in this thread, I mentioned a “Warning Part II.” I wrote that warning specifically because I had just watched this film, as this is about as offensive as you can get. Topics that are mocked in the film include handicapped people, men, women, immigrants, feminists, homosexuality, rape, incest, pedophilia, AIDS, and murder. This is definitely a dark comedy, and I was often times disappointed at myself for finding some of the jokes funny. But they are funny. My biggest complaint is that many absolutely insane, over-the-top scenes come out of nowhere and just left me totally confused. And some things that ran throughout the entire film never seemed to be explained, such as the walking on ceilings (yeah, you’ll see what I mean).

Rating the picture was impossible for me, as I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t know if I liked it or hated it, so I just went with a more average rating. This is definitely worth a watch, even if you end up hating it, purely for the experience. I would especially recommend it to anyone who likes really dark (and I mean really dark) comedies. But prepare yourself for the strangest.

That just makes me want to read your reviews even more

I'm with Joe-Horror and reps for your first review. Good review, it definitely made me curious to find a copy and see this.

You got me curious that is for sure. Congrats on your first review.

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Yep. The weirder the better. Ex Drummer been on my list for a while, been meaning to check it out. Will do sooner now after your review.


i like dark....

^I love that gif

Angst (1983)
Directed by Gerald Kargl
Language: German
My Rating: +



“Angst” is about a man who has just been released from prison for murdering an old woman. However, it doesn’t take long before his urge to kill returns. I really have mixed feelings about the film. On one hand, the film offers a fantastic character study of a serial killer. I don’t believe that the killer has a single word of dialogue in the film; however he provides narration throughout it. This narration is really what pulled me in. He says some of the most sadistic things I have ever heard, yet I somehow felt sorry for him. I also liked the atmosphere the picture has. Think “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.” There is very little blood or gore, but the dull colors and wacky camera angles make for a very creepy atmosphere. Finally, the ending is great, and nothing beats a film ending on a high note.

Despite all this, I can’t say I loved the film, because so few things actually happen. It has a short runtime to begin with (the version I watched was 75 min, but I believe an 83 min version exists out there). In all honesty, I can only think of maybe four actual “events” that happen in the film. This is because the filmmakers really draw out certain scenes and show you all of everything that is happening. This would normally be very boring, but they play the narration over these sequences to keep you engaged. So overall, the film has a fantastic character, but the story didn’t go as far as/where I hoped it would.

I would definitely recommend this to you if you are a fan of films that feel like snuff films. On a side note, Gaspar Noe (director of Irreversible and Enter the Void) named Angst as one of his top 10 favorite films of all time.

I've been meaning to see this one for awhile. Henry is one of my favorite films of the 80s, so this might be down my alley.

I don't know if you have access to it or not, but Nekromantik seems like a good choice for a thread like this. *hint hint*

I've seen Nekromantik and I love it. I find the film hilarious. It might even be due for a re-watch so I may write up a review.

I cant find Nekromantik anywhere!! i really wanna see this!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...nt%2Caps%2C143

XD Oh dear lord I know this movie! A great idea for a thread!

Sorry, i should have added "that i can afford". cheers though, i'll keep searching.

Any chance of a review on it Ming?

I might watch Nekromantik 2 (which I've never seen), and then do a dual review of the two movies.

Also, it's on youtube:

Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989)
Directed by Shin’ya Tsukamoto
Language: Japanese
My Rating: +



Really strange, surreal, audacious, black-and-white Japanese flick kinda revolves around a man who is slowly turning into pure metal junk. I say “kinda” because there is a lot of other crazy stuff that happens in the film that I just couldn’t figure out. There isn’t much of a storyline to the film, just a bunch of strong, bizarre imagery of this man and his metal. You kinda think you understand what’s going on at the beginning, but by the end I had no idea what I was watching. At one point, I actually laughed out loud at my complete and utter confusion. The picture is sort of like a Japanese version of a David Cronenberg body horror film minus the plot and character development. If this sounds like it’s up your alley, then go for it, because some of the scenes (if you could call them scenes) are completely unforgettable. This ain’t no Robert Downey Jr comic book adaptation. This is one of those films with such a unique style, it feels as though the director has never in his life watched any other movie in order to get a feel for the language of cinema.

Overall, the lack of any real storyline really turned me off. In order for this kind of film to work for me, I would need constant, over-the-top, hilarious imagery. Instead, I just got some really bizarre, incomprehensible imagery mixed together with some of the strangest editing I’ve ever seen. It is really hard to explain the imagery, and trying to explain it would be taking the piss out of it. The film itself plays sort of like a montage, if that makes sense. And the fact that the film started to lose my attention at about the halfway mark despite having a runtime of only 67 minutes doesn’t help its cause.

Watch some Jodorovsky.

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Preserving the sanctity of cinema. Subtitles preferred, mainstream dismissed, and always in search of yet another film you have never heard of. I speak fluent French New Wave.

Pretty accurate description of Tetsuo, bot I think you overrated it a tad.

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I saw Tetsuo for the first time just the other day. I loved it though. I am a big fan of surrealism, so it was pretty much made for me.

Happy days, cheers.