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Sick Product of a Sick System

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This film actually is a shot-for-shot remake of Pole Romanski's suppressed 1968 flick HELTER SKELTER HONEYMOON, the infamous American version of Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi classic, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. Shown primarily at the seediest inner-city flicker houses, a bootlegged print of HSH found its way onto the Manson family ranch, and the rest is history. Before Watergate, so the story goes, the Dirty Tricks Division of the White House rounded up and destroyed the few copies existent. My campus was open-minded, so it was double-billed with PINK FLAMINGOS--prior to Manson making headlines, of course.It is easy to see why D.C.Mann (an obvious pseudonym) choose the second fake name of "Vin Crease" and renamed this film SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF THE RISING SUN. At least when Gus Van Sant perpetrated his uncalled for similar remake of PSYCHO, Hitch already was pushing up daisies. Whoever Mann or Crease REALLY is, how did you get your hands on a script or print of HSH? More to the point, how do you sleep at night? I get shivers just thinking about it, and Charlie's not even paroled yet!

This is not a horrible movie. It has a few moments. But there are many obvious giveaways that make it clear that it was not made in 1972. Things like hairstyles, clothing, the use of a steadicam and other modern digital editing techniques totally spoil the potential illusion. I don't know how anyone can say that it is convincing in this respect. Unless they have not watched a lot of films from 1972. The music is probably the most convincing part. I also think they make the mistake of playing for laughs at times (and not getting them) when they should have just played it straight. It could have been funnier that way. Just watch SCTV for examples of how that can work. But, in fact, I would have preferred it if they were not going for laughs at all. If they had instead chosen to just make a good solid horror film in the style of movies from 1972. And just an odd side note: Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out in 1974. I'm not sure how to interpret homage to/parody of a movie which is embedded in a movie that's supposed to be made two years earlier.

An excellent re-work of Seventies film clichés - or really a Seventies film, how the prologue will suggest? It's pure fun to point out during watching this very charming genre bastard, which contains several elements of 70ies road movies, hippie movies, horror movies, drug movies and a little bit Russ Meyer touch. And also a bit of David Lynch-like atmosphere. Okay: Lynch is not very typical for the 70ies, but anyway. The acting is great (especially the director himself as crippled hippie leader), also the dialogues and the cinematography. And there is also a lot of strange humour and irony in this generally strange, funny and likable independent movie.

I saw this film at the Denver Underground Film Festival and I was so surprised to to see such a funny, campy and creepy film. Although this is a new film, you would swear this was made in 1972. All of the characters are hilarious and memorable -- especially the psycho-duo Guilty and Violence (they're also really hot!!!). The movie touches on so many horror and exploitation films from the time -- from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Last House on the Left" to Russ Meyer's films and all the groovy counter culture films from back then. Even the music, editing, titles and effects are dead-on. The film is definitely the kind you'll see at midnight shows for years to come. It has the kind of lines that people will probably interact like they do with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". I can't wait to see this again. A true modern cult classic.