Hate to go right to David Cronenberg on this, who helped significantly in bringing body horror from B-movie status more into the mainstream. This one kinda held back and said fuckit, we don’t need your fancy moneys, we got ours and here it is. And, here it is.
High Schooler Bill Whitney has some issues. His psychologist tells him it’s ok. His family tells him it’s ok. But, things don’t seem ok. He lives a somewhat blessed life, living in a nice mansion with his parents and cute sister. He’s the star basketball player and apparently master debater (take that as you will, it’s an 80s flick with a lot of bikinis and odd shower scenes, just sayin), but things just seem a bit...off. Everything in his life is a bit...off.
If you like 80s horror like Videodrome, Re-Animator, Hellraiser, you will be satisfied with this. At least kinda. If you don’t know what body horror is, you may want to start easy, like with Cronenberg’s Rabid. Heh. This one is a slow build, there’s a shitload of telegraphin of the plot, but it keeps it creepy and unsettling. While overall look and cinematography is actually pretty good, and the lead acting is usually passable, it gets pretty ugly with the finale. Reeeeal fuckin ugly, pretty much on all levels. This is allegory made literal, with no apologies. Given this is the first major film directed by Brian Yuzna after working with Stuart Gordon a few times on the notable Re-Animator and From Beyond as producer, it’s a natural progression. But somehow the two also co-wrote Honey, I Shrunk the Kids before this. That’s...fucked up. Seriously, that’s...weird. This movie is fucked up. Interesting take on “society,” for sure, but in a pretty horrific fashion. I’d say THE most horrific fashion, but this is only late 80s, they’ve had room to expand since then. Most horror is pretty much allegory, this one just a little more blatantly so. Can’t say I fault Yuzna for that.
