Friday, January 20, 2006
Blood Sucking Freaks!!!
After getting a little bogged down in metaphor and meaning in my last blog, time to get back to the fun part of horror…THE FILMS!!!
It has to be said the output from the Troma Studios, famous for such titles as “Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator” and “A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell” has been variable, but one thing you can normally expect is something a little different, that can certainly be applied to “Blood Sucking Freaks”. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to see this on a bootleg video in my youth and was even luckier (or not) to catch this on the UK Horror Channel just the other night. For the uninitiated, the movie centres around the Great Sardu, a sadist who hosts performance art based on torture and murder, the audience unaware that the events taking place on stage aren’t fake but are in fact real. A slim plot from which to hang an outrageous collection of scenes that at times resemble a nightmare version of “Little Britain”.
Sardu and his sick little assistant dwarf Ralphus play darts; the camera pans back to show a woman’s bare bottom with a target drawn on. They play backgammon with female slaves fingers as chips, Ralphus points out Sardu has no ‘chips’ left, “I bet you an arm and a leg I have” he grins in reply. “Sardu can’t come to the phone right now, he’s a little tied up”, one female slave says as she applies a little S&M to a chained Sardu. “Put the girl to work in the toilets, her mouth will make an interesting urinal”, Sardu remarks to Ralphus on being introduced to a new slave. You can probably tell the tone of the movie from this, it certainly doesn’t take itself seriously.
Despite this obviously being a comedy, it’s so dark you literally can’t see it, the BBFC still failing to grant it a certificate. This is perhaps unsurprising based on their stance regarding sexual violence and particular exception to the exploitation, degradation and violence towards women, all of which this movie has. But there is a point to this movie, believe it or not.
Sardu kidnaps a Journalist, his staunchest critic, and tells him he will let him go if he gives him a positive review, revealing his plan to produce a show featuring a world famous ballet dancer that will prove him as a genius. Director Joel M Reid has defended this 1976 movie as a serious art film, taking the same stance as Sardu does in the movie. Both he and the film’s main character are desperate to be taken seriously despite not having the ability to produce high art, reducing themselves to shocks that mask their artistic limitations. Having directed nothing else of note before or after it’s become clear his most famous movie as a fitting epitaph to his career.
This may be trying to put a point on a film that has no point, although it has to be said that this is more than just a gore movie. There does seem to be something about it that lifts it above most Troma movies, despite a complete lack of production values, crap special effects, blatant exploitation and a plodding script. Perhaps Sardu is right, maybe he is a genius in a slimeball’s clothing, though I very much doubt it!
If you’ve not seen the movie, it will probably remain a rare curiosity, a cult classic whose reputation precedes it. If you have seen it, chances are you’ve never and will never see anything quite like it again. As the BBFC havn’t even given most of us the choice, most will have to keep wondering but don’t wonder too hard…just remind yourself that you HAVE seen better movies.
“Beware the Moon and stay on the path…”
It has to be said the output from the Troma Studios, famous for such titles as “Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator” and “A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell” has been variable, but one thing you can normally expect is something a little different, that can certainly be applied to “Blood Sucking Freaks”. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to see this on a bootleg video in my youth and was even luckier (or not) to catch this on the UK Horror Channel just the other night. For the uninitiated, the movie centres around the Great Sardu, a sadist who hosts performance art based on torture and murder, the audience unaware that the events taking place on stage aren’t fake but are in fact real. A slim plot from which to hang an outrageous collection of scenes that at times resemble a nightmare version of “Little Britain”.
Sardu and his sick little assistant dwarf Ralphus play darts; the camera pans back to show a woman’s bare bottom with a target drawn on. They play backgammon with female slaves fingers as chips, Ralphus points out Sardu has no ‘chips’ left, “I bet you an arm and a leg I have” he grins in reply. “Sardu can’t come to the phone right now, he’s a little tied up”, one female slave says as she applies a little S&M to a chained Sardu. “Put the girl to work in the toilets, her mouth will make an interesting urinal”, Sardu remarks to Ralphus on being introduced to a new slave. You can probably tell the tone of the movie from this, it certainly doesn’t take itself seriously.
Despite this obviously being a comedy, it’s so dark you literally can’t see it, the BBFC still failing to grant it a certificate. This is perhaps unsurprising based on their stance regarding sexual violence and particular exception to the exploitation, degradation and violence towards women, all of which this movie has. But there is a point to this movie, believe it or not.
Sardu kidnaps a Journalist, his staunchest critic, and tells him he will let him go if he gives him a positive review, revealing his plan to produce a show featuring a world famous ballet dancer that will prove him as a genius. Director Joel M Reid has defended this 1976 movie as a serious art film, taking the same stance as Sardu does in the movie. Both he and the film’s main character are desperate to be taken seriously despite not having the ability to produce high art, reducing themselves to shocks that mask their artistic limitations. Having directed nothing else of note before or after it’s become clear his most famous movie as a fitting epitaph to his career.
This may be trying to put a point on a film that has no point, although it has to be said that this is more than just a gore movie. There does seem to be something about it that lifts it above most Troma movies, despite a complete lack of production values, crap special effects, blatant exploitation and a plodding script. Perhaps Sardu is right, maybe he is a genius in a slimeball’s clothing, though I very much doubt it!
If you’ve not seen the movie, it will probably remain a rare curiosity, a cult classic whose reputation precedes it. If you have seen it, chances are you’ve never and will never see anything quite like it again. As the BBFC havn’t even given most of us the choice, most will have to keep wondering but don’t wonder too hard…just remind yourself that you HAVE seen better movies.
“Beware the Moon and stay on the path…”
