Runtime:
81 minutes
Directed
by: Bert Williams
Starring:
Bert Williams, Ann Long, Chuck Frankle, Jackie Scelza, Larry Wright
From:
Bert Williams Motion Pictures and Distributor
This was something I reviewed on Letterboxd a few days ago and yet I am just posting about it here. What an interesting piece of outsider cinema this was:
Nicolas Winding Refn... long ago I saw Pusher and found it to be
good; there is no review but one day there will be. Drive mostly worked
for me; I did not find it to be “boring” or “too slow” as some did.
However, I gave up on him as Only God Forgives looked and sounded great
but the story was so bad and repugnant and such pretentious twaddle, I
found the movie to be utter garbage. Blair Still Hasn't Forgiven Refn
for that. What I've heard about The Neon Demon hasn't made me change my
mind.
All that said, I realize there are still plenty of NWR fans on Letterboxd and henceforth I should let everyone know that this free streaming site of old obscurities (byNWR) officially launched today. It's a different sort of thing: they will slowly roll out a few movies at a time and each film has various articles attached which as far as I can see (I haven't read all of them by any means) have varying degrees of relevance to the movie.
I read the piece about this film's creator (Bert Williams) and he was quite the character. He had small roles in such things as The Usual Suspects and various 80's Cannon flicks-including the just watched by me again Murphy's Law-although he was in the business for decades, and was even in Ford's Fort Apache. This was a passion project for him and until recently was a lost movie. Williams was a real raconteur, someone who enjoyed regaling stories about himself... although only some were actually true and the others were either highly embellished or outright fabrications. This character actor was apparently quite a character in general.
As for this motion picture, outsider cinema it is. The budget was obviously low and the editing seemed like it was done by a chainsaw. Williams plays a detective who is undercover in the Florida Everglades, investigating moonshiners. He is found out, escapes and stumbles upon the Cuckoo Bird Inn, located far from civilization. Not only is it a bizarre family who runs the inn (the patriarch has a hilariously fake beard and it was like he was doing a bad Abe Lincoln cosplay, the matriarch is a harsh-looking and harsh-acting woman, and a teen daughter is portrayed as a sinner; yes, religion and repenting is a big plot point), but surreal images are seen, which has to be the reason why Refn was drawn to this. Style-wise, think Russ Meyer's Mudhoney, which one day I'll review here.
The movie is technically not good and seems rather long at even 82 minutes. Yet I can't say this is bad. It certainly is strange, and a kill is presented as if Williams wanted to do his own version of the Psycho shower scene. They were genuinely an intriguing way of doing them. You just have to put up with “acting” that is more like constant yelling and long slow stretches; you will find that the story is still watchable... and pretty loony too, although at least the general plot points do make sense. It was a rather odd & surreal Southern Gothic drama, for sure. Plus, the bongo-filled score was legitimately pretty good. Plus, there's actual female nudity, if that gets you hot and bothered.
The other two films available now via byNWR are Shanty Tramp & Hot Thrills and Warm Chills, which I should check out in the future.
All that said, I realize there are still plenty of NWR fans on Letterboxd and henceforth I should let everyone know that this free streaming site of old obscurities (byNWR) officially launched today. It's a different sort of thing: they will slowly roll out a few movies at a time and each film has various articles attached which as far as I can see (I haven't read all of them by any means) have varying degrees of relevance to the movie.
I read the piece about this film's creator (Bert Williams) and he was quite the character. He had small roles in such things as The Usual Suspects and various 80's Cannon flicks-including the just watched by me again Murphy's Law-although he was in the business for decades, and was even in Ford's Fort Apache. This was a passion project for him and until recently was a lost movie. Williams was a real raconteur, someone who enjoyed regaling stories about himself... although only some were actually true and the others were either highly embellished or outright fabrications. This character actor was apparently quite a character in general.
As for this motion picture, outsider cinema it is. The budget was obviously low and the editing seemed like it was done by a chainsaw. Williams plays a detective who is undercover in the Florida Everglades, investigating moonshiners. He is found out, escapes and stumbles upon the Cuckoo Bird Inn, located far from civilization. Not only is it a bizarre family who runs the inn (the patriarch has a hilariously fake beard and it was like he was doing a bad Abe Lincoln cosplay, the matriarch is a harsh-looking and harsh-acting woman, and a teen daughter is portrayed as a sinner; yes, religion and repenting is a big plot point), but surreal images are seen, which has to be the reason why Refn was drawn to this. Style-wise, think Russ Meyer's Mudhoney, which one day I'll review here.
The movie is technically not good and seems rather long at even 82 minutes. Yet I can't say this is bad. It certainly is strange, and a kill is presented as if Williams wanted to do his own version of the Psycho shower scene. They were genuinely an intriguing way of doing them. You just have to put up with “acting” that is more like constant yelling and long slow stretches; you will find that the story is still watchable... and pretty loony too, although at least the general plot points do make sense. It was a rather odd & surreal Southern Gothic drama, for sure. Plus, the bongo-filled score was legitimately pretty good. Plus, there's actual female nudity, if that gets you hot and bothered.
The other two films available now via byNWR are Shanty Tramp & Hot Thrills and Warm Chills, which I should check out in the future.
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