Runtime: 93 minutes
Directed by: Trent Haaga
Starring: Matthew Gray Gubler, AnnaLynne McCord, Alisha Boe, Sheila Vand, Sam Eidson
From: IFC Midnight
I not only saw an appropriate movie for a midnight film, but AnnaLynne McCord was there in person. See all the details below:
Late last night I saw this film at a midnight screening at the Florida Film Festival. In all the years I've lived in Florida (since 2004) I have only been to the FFF a handful of times. It's a combination of schedule and other factors which made this the case. The other factors include it being more than a few miles from where I live is one thing, but yesterday it was a combo of really bad traffic and someone there being very rude to me which sent me a message that it may be a good thing I haven't gone there more often... sad but true.
Partially so I could also get a ticket for a film I will see tonight and partially because this sounded real interesting, I decided to check this out. I had never seen anything else from Trent Haaga (whether it be written or directed or both) but I was familiar with films like Cheap Thrills or Deadgirl. In addition, the female lead (AnnaLynne McCord) would be live in attendance to do a short Q&A afterwards. I knew who she was but this was the first thing I had ever seen her in. The Q&A was a standard thing and yet because I thought her performance was the best in the picture, I will eventually see more of her movies.
After seeing the film, it was perfect for seeing at midnight. The fact that Haaga started out his career at Troma (heck, he wrote the fourth Toxic Avenger movie) was quite apparent here; it's a sleazy grindhouse over the top tale involving a bunch of scummy characters in Louisiana. The focus is on Matthew Gray Gubler's Chip and McCord's Liza; she is assertive and wears the pants in the family. The wish for more money so she wants to rob a rich D-bag she knows. Things don't go as planned and I'll leave it at that. Things become crazier than you'd expect, and Liza is not the type of lady I would want to personally date, even though there are even worse characters than her that you'll get to meet.
The movie is unquestionably not for everyone; it's greatly over the top and absurd moments abound. Yet I had a lot of fun with this; watching it on the big screen probably aided in my enjoyment but I am glad I got to see it. The most interesting aspect is that Chip is a gigantic wimp and a doofus while Liza and other female characters are much stronger and they steamroll over him. Whether or not he can stand up for himself is an important plot point.
Thank heavens that most of the comedy in this dark comedy is pretty funny; it balances out all the horrific moments you see. Amazingly, this was based on a book (!) and I haven't read that so I can't say how faithful an adaptation it was. I'll just say that if you love ghoulish midnight movies, this is probably something you'll want to see.
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