Reviews & Ratings for
Sonny Boy More at IMDbPro »

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15 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Amaze your friends, 26 February 2005

Author: nixed from United Kingdom

Get hold of this film, any way you can (not illegally, of course). Scream its name from the rooftops of buildings everywhere, high or small, and offer prayers to your God for a fully-featured special edition DVD release. There is no film like Sonny Boy: even Leonard Maltin was moved to call it (I quote verbatim) "A repulsive, socially irredeemable waste of celluloid ... filmed for no apparent reason other to offend and appal", and if that isn't a recommendation for a cult movie, I don't know what is. Critics said similar things about Peeping Tom, A Clockwork Orange, Reservoir Dogs, and so many more ... those films are amazing and entirely individual, and so is this. It's pitiful that Sonny Boy has so little recognition apart from a few right-thinking die hards - you don't have to like it, just admit you've never seen its like before or since. Get on the bandwagon speedily, because if I am human this film will, in the near future, be recognised for the angry, iconoclastic, unclassifiable explosion it really is. And you can be among those who educated the world. Feel the adrenaline. There.

11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Uniquely bizarre black comedy., 30 June 2001
Author: INFOFREAKO from Perth, Australia

Sonny Boy is a one of a kind horror/comedy with an exceptional cast. Paul L. Smith (Midnight Express, Crimewave) plays his usual over-the-top man/monster role, David Carradine his transvestite wife, Brad Dourif (legend!) the aptly named Weasel, and Dourif's Cuckoo's Nest co-star Sydney Lassick, the slimy Charlie P. Michael Griffin is exceptional in the title role. Pity he didn't go on to do anything else. Maybe making Sonny Boy scarred him for life?! I also liked veteran Conrad Janis as one of the few non-repulsive characters in this, an alcoholic doctor with a liking for surgery involving monkey parts(!) Janis has had one eclectic career, working with everyone from Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan to African bushman N!xau, from Mork And Mindy to The Cable Guy, but surely he must rate this as the weirdest project he's ever been involved in! And Brad Dourif has made more than his fair share of strange movies,not least of which Blue Velvet, but none as demented as this crazy mutha!

I recommend Sonny Boy to bizarre movie lovers everywhere, and fans of Garth Ennis comics will find much to enjoy here, as it shares a similar gonzo humour to Preacher et al.

8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
...the impossible movie?, 3 July 2000

Author: centurymantra-2 from Michigan, USA

While watching this with a friend (in a general state of disbelief due to the surreal audacity of the flick), they looked over at me to exclaim that I had found "the impossible movie". This comment bluntly yet accurately summarizes in many ways what it is about this movie that cannot really be put into words. Any attempt to describe this movie would simply do it an injustice. The combination of elements; cinematography, music, actors, scenarios, etc. is nearly brilliant and the dark humored tone that dominates this film is disturbing, illuminating and hilarious all at once. Watching this film is definitely a love-it or hate-it proposition, but for those who appreciate the surreal, offbeat and macabre elements of cinema, this film is a motherlode. Just keep in mind that Psychotronic Film Guide ranks this as one of the top ten films of the '80's and the gentleman responsible for the screenplay (Graeme Whifler) created most of the early films and videos for that infamous band of San Francisco musical luminaries, The Residents. If these two facts mean anything to you, then I need to say no more...

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Tongueless in the desert, 5 August 2010
Author: Justin Stokes from Cleburne, TX

Terminally weird indie film with Paul L. Smith playing Slue, a small town crime boss. David Carradine plays his transvestite (I think) squeeze, Pearl, while Brad Dourif and Sydney Lassick are his two henchmen, Weasel and Charlie P. Weasel kills a couple and steals their car, which he brings to Slue. He didn't realize, however, that the couple's baby was asleep in the back. Slue wants to feed the kid to the hogs, but Pearl sees him as the son he could never have. They raise him as a killer to be used against Slue's enemies. They also cut out his tongue as a birthday present?! When Sonny Boy gets loose, his actions threaten to turn the town against Slue.

I had wanted to see this one after reading about it in "Terror on Tape", and TCM gave me the chance when they aired it as part of their Underground lineup. As you can plainly see from the plot description, it's certainly offbeat. Sort of an allegory in disguise for the effects of child abuse, you might expect this to be a disturbing film. Not even close. Instead, it's just strange. Slue has an old canon, and in a wicked scene, he uses it to blow apart a nosy deputy. There are also some obvious parallels to Frankenstein towards the end. Had I not known it beforehand, I would have been shocked to see that this was released in '89. It felt like something straight out of the 70's. The main giveaway was the computer font which tells how much time had passed.

While I would hesitate to call "Sonny Boy" a good film, it's worth a look if only to say that you've seen it. For fans of bizarre cinema, there's enough of a novelty present to warrant at least one viewing. Personally, I'm still not 100% sure if Carradine was supposed to be playing a guy in drag or an actual woman.

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
one of a kind, 4 May 2005

Author: wilbrifar from Los Angeles

I have to agree with all those who sing this film's praises. If you really think about it, this was the last truly independent film to be released on American screens. (I'm not talking about today's so-called "indie" films that are pushed into theatres by giant corporations like Miramax and Lion's Gate and Fox Searchlight, but movies that were peddled by independent distributors the old fashioned way.) I'm proud to say I saw it twice on the big screen: the first time, I was the only person in the theatre; the second time I brought a friend I knew would appreciate it and it was only the two of us! I also proudly own the ultra-rare laser disc. It really needs a DVD release, which ideally would have commentaries revealing more about this wonderful work.

6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Weird and kind of wonderful, 7 April 2005

Author: Mr. Majestyk from Brooklyn, NY

When I read Leonard Maltin's review of this film (which I'd never heard of), I was instantly intrigued. After all, who doesn't want to see a film starring Brad Douriff, David Carradine, and the guy who played Bluto in Popeye which, according to Maltin, "was filmed for no apparent reason but to offend and appall?" When I finally tracked it down via a bootleg site years later, I was expecting an unredeemable gorefest, but instead, I got a quirky, sensitive, sorta moving flick about child abuse...kind of. I mean, it ain't The English Patient--it's got a deputy getting exploderated at point blank range with a Howitzer and a cigar-chomping David Carradine in full drag (one of his best performances, by the way. Utterly believable--and he even sings the theme song!), but it works more as a drama than an exploitation flick. Some budgetary constraints show, particularly in a mostly offscreen Frankensteinish angry mob scene, but I wasn't disappointed, despite the fact that I was expecting a horror gore comedy and got an offbeat indie dramedy. Someday, this truly unique flick will be a cult classic. Watch it now and say you saw it first. (By the way, I got my copy at Nightcrew Video, a great bootleg site.)

5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Quite interesting, very bizarre., 9 December 2000

Author: gridoon

If you're expecting this to be just a cheap, ugly exploitation film, you may actually be surprised. Although it does border on the offensive, and Paul L. Smith plays (convincingly) one of the most repugnant characters you'll ever see, the film has enough originality and audacity to be preferable to many other formula horror outings. The script develops into a variation on the "Frankenstein" myth, and the terrific music score gives a poetic dimension to some scenes. Outstanding performance by the actor who plays Sonny Boy. (**)

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Very VERY VERY sick! An under-rated gem., 29 April 2008

Author: laymonite-2 from United Kingdom

This is one of the most ignored and genuinely horrific horror films I've seen, and I consider myself a connoisseur of these type of films...

This ranks with Irreversible, I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left, Hostel etc for pure nauseous shock - a child's tongue is cut out by his perverted 'parents' as a birthday present which is utterly normal in the context of the film...

Forget Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes - this is real US horror, like The Girl Next Door (though not that shocking).

Utterly nihilistic, very strange and well worth a look if you can find it!

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Sonny Boy---Gives Home abuse a bad name and a Chilling thrill., 11 December 2004

Author: triad-2 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Strange...Dark...Compelling. Very good and original performances by the entire cast who seemed to have embraced this definitely 'cult' style film, as a mother Swan might embrace the ugliest duckling in the pond. Caradine gives a brave, toothless, transvestite 'Mother of the Year' award performance against his/her demoniacal husband's (Paul Smith's)lumbering, grotesque, almost cartoonish 'Big Daddy' gone mad act. Brad Douriff as one of the 'baddies' manages to re-invent four letter words after every syllable in a suitably frightening manner, while Conrad Janis, in the role of 'Doc', a quasi 'Mad Scientist---with a heart of gold', sporting a Raider's of the Lost Ark hat and a ten day beard amazingly manages to imbue some of the strangest dialogue ever uttered by an actor, with depth, heart and compassion, and yes, credibility, as the erstwhile, and reluctant Saviour of the poor mistreated, mutilated 'Sonny Boy'. Obviously a bravura directorial hand guided this disturbing yet quixotic film, and Robert Martin Carroll wove this brooding dark magic carpet into a flight not of fancy but of the stuff nightmares are made of.

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Gotta see it, if u can find it., 13 October 1999
Author: tosh-6 from TX

This movie is a one of a kind. Dark comedy is the best way to describe it. Definitely worth seeing (if just to see David Carradine wearing a dress, though it has much more to offer). The guy from Midnight Express plays another ruthless character in top form.

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