Science Crazed (1991)
Directed by Ron Switzer
TriWorld Films VHS
THE FILM
I get the distinct feeling that this film may not be based in actual science. I guess that's why it's "crazed".
Canada, you did it again. You made "loopy" something that can be done quite casually. This story of Dr. Frank and his experiment that gives birth to a "Fiend", head wrapped in bandages, who wanders the halls of a building killing people (mainly women) is genuinely nutty. A post-dubbed, strangely scored, randomly plotted 82 minute burst of movie that I won't forget. But, it's not genuinely nutty in the ways you might imagine.
Two of Dr. Frank's assistants (the blonde woman and the Guy) team up with a Detective (first seen in a pretty awesome video store) to hunt the "Fiend" down. The "Fiend" spends a large portion of the movie just staring at people so the Tenacious Trio must be looking in the wrong places since they seem to take an eternity to catch him. But, in that Eternity, Sweetness Flows. (As it were.)
The film is awkward and strange, at first it feels like it's going the way of Things. To Madness. Weird people, strange gore, and so forth. Then, two women begin doing aerobics, about 15 minutes in, and the movie becomes something so weird. I apologize but I need to describe the scene. I won't do it full justice but...imagine the first fifteen minutes are a series of weird scenes culminating in the "Fiend" killing someone and starting to wander through the halls...
We cut to two women (one thin, one zaftig) who are doing aerobics. This goes on for around 7 or 8 minutes intercut with the "Fiend" dragging himself through the hall. The women lift weights for a few minutes. Then, the "Fiend" meets them in the Locker room and they're killed off-screen. It's an astounding sequence that goes on and on...and on. Past the point where anyone sane would have stopped, it goes on for a few more minutes...it's amazing. I've seen some crazy scenes (the opening scene in Night Of Horror and the first traveling sequence in Devil Monster) but this is astounding.
And, the movie does variations of this until the end, only stopping for several really awkward (sometimes gloriously so, sometimes not) conversations between our leads. Whatever this film may have started off as...after spending around five minutes watching the camera float around a constantly talking woman (whose voice we can't hear) over and over again as the "Fiend" drags his feet...it is something wholly its own. I would never have guessed that the film would go crazy in quite that way. It's something to see.
If this was made in '87, than this is a very early example of the Mostly 90s trope of making a film with constant direct references to other low budget and strange films of the past. (The 80s practice of peppering your film with names of directors and such is a bit more subtle.) The assistants sit under a Creepshow 2 and Evil Dead 2 poster. (This film does promise a sequel.) There is a long, loving pan down an Embassy Entertainment video poster and, of course, we visit The Video Pit. Clearly the filmmakers are marking their spots ("This is what we love and this is where our film is"). Thank God, they went about it in such an individualistic manner.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Ahhh, it's fine. It looks cheap in ways that make me smile. There's a lot of music and A LOT of heavy breathing from "The Fiend".
EXTRAS
You know what? I'm not even sure where I got this copy from. People hand me tapes and DVDs. I thank them and watch.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I don't know if I can watch Science Crazed more times than the two viewings for this review. It might possibly work best at some sort of "event" where the film plays in the background and people's minds are free to wander elsewhere.
Everyone's madness is their own. I'm glad no one said to the director "Hey, Ron, did you want to spend around 7 minutes vaguely watching those people hanging out by that pool?" Because, Dammit, I love every one of those minutes with those people by that pool! I could do without some of the three leads strange chatter but I do enjoy the rest.
— Dan Budnik, 06.23.11 |
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