"An unjustly neglected genre classic that delivers a deft fusion of horror-movie tropes, social satire, and cult-film weirdness."
-Budd Wilkins, Slant Magazine
Since i have been experimenting with psilocybin lately, might as well watch a D.A.R.E style antidrug movie to keep me in check.
At a party, someone goes insane and murders three women. Falsely accused of the brutal killings, Jerry is on the run. More bizarre killings continue with alarming frequency all over town. Trying to clear his name, Jerry discovers the shocking truth...people are losing their hair and turning into violent psychopaths and the connection may be some LSD all the murderers took a decade before.
I love the way this movie opens. we get a little bit of credits, then a small character vignette that's beyond creep as fuck, then some more credits. It an amazing way to introduce your characters and get the audience instantly on edge, and it made me hyped as fuck to see where the rest of this movie will take us. with such a high brow opening i was expecting this movie to be one of those "elevated" kind of classy horror movies, nd i was delighted to see how quickly we jump to B-Movie sound cues and makeup design. with one snatch of a wig this movie goes batshit crazy real fast, and i love to see how Schlock and highbrow can coexist without stepping on any toes. A great example is how most of this movies soundtrack is very subtle and creeping, but when an attack happens it goes full on 50s B movie blaring orchestra.
Part of the reason this movie works so well is just hoe Cronenberg this whole movie is. your own body slowly driving you insane from the inside and forcing you to murder indiscriminately is one of the craziest and creepiest things i can imagine, and even when the violence isnt on screen it still feels like a punch in the gut. Touring a crime scene after the fact and hearing all of the cries of agony from the victims is bone chilling, and its even more effective than actually showing what happened on screen.
This movie isn't totally immune to that standard 70s sluggishness, but for a film that was shot in just five weeks its still a damn strong movie that's well worth a watch
7/10
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