I received this as a gift a few years ago and didn't get to watching it until last night. I have to say, I liked it a lot more than I expected.
From the first shot following the opening credits, I knew I recognized the place. When I saw the obscure tree stump with the red heels on it, it clicked for me. I've fornicated in this house before multiple times, in front of a camera. It's the same house I had the shoot I refer back to most frequently (referenced in my novel Warship Satan, available on Amazon - you can read far more about it in there), the one where the new starlet started crying mid scene because the shoot took a lot longer than she was expecting and now she was missing her recently deceased grandfather's funeral. This was most certainly that same XXX shoot house.
That detail aside, it was impossible to ignore the (possibly subconsciously placed?) sexual tension in every single dialogue exchange. Literally every conversation felt like it was about to lead to a crossfade into someone either orally copulating another person or taking another from behind. It felt so undeniably like a cheap adult film in which the sex was simply replaced with shots of a talking cat. Therefore, it was not so shocking to discover afterwards that the director was actually a gay porn director directing family films under another pseudonym (also obvious through his choice of casting for the sons and the way he directs them and holds certain shots on them - you'll see what I mean - Daniel Dannas holds some ICONIC facial expressions!). It not only validated my feelings but gave the whole movie a very specific characteristic that actually added to it's potential legendary status.
Another element I rather enjoyed was the fact that Eric Roberts' (LOL) voiceover for the cat's voice was SO low quality... it sounded as if he recorded it in a small bathroom on a microphone that was somehow of worse quality than the on-board microphones that come on most contemporary laptops, after a few cocktails. I picture him lying down in a bathrobe, putting in zero effort. It's great.
The cast cohesively had a certain charm in their complete lack of talent. They worked well together in the sense that they were all equivalent and never even came close to making a single conversation believable in any sense. This, of course, can be equally accredited to the absurd writing.
The cherry on top was the endless bookend shots between literally every single scene, comparable to the shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco landscapes used in The Room. In this case, they were rather pretty shots of I assume Latigo Canyon on the outskirts of Malibu (which is where the house is), and then a couple random ones of a large creek and what appears to be an island somewhere? I honestly loved this element of the film. It was a needed breath of air after each brain-bending dose of dialogue and acting from another planet. It was the yin to this film's yang.
This is a one-of-a-kind experience that is CLEARLY not for everyone, but for those who are open to it, will take you to another realm which you will not soon forget. Yes, it's in a category with some of the worst films I have ever seen, and that's why it's fantastic in it's own special way. I would most certainly do screenings if I owned a theater.
From the first shot following the opening credits, I knew I recognized the place. When I saw the obscure tree stump with the red heels on it, it clicked for me. I've fornicated in this house before multiple times, in front of a camera. It's the same house I had the shoot I refer back to most frequently (referenced in my novel Warship Satan, available on Amazon - you can read far more about it in there), the one where the new starlet started crying mid scene because the shoot took a lot longer than she was expecting and now she was missing her recently deceased grandfather's funeral. This was most certainly that same XXX shoot house.
That detail aside, it was impossible to ignore the (possibly subconsciously placed?) sexual tension in every single dialogue exchange. Literally every conversation felt like it was about to lead to a crossfade into someone either orally copulating another person or taking another from behind. It felt so undeniably like a cheap adult film in which the sex was simply replaced with shots of a talking cat. Therefore, it was not so shocking to discover afterwards that the director was actually a gay porn director directing family films under another pseudonym (also obvious through his choice of casting for the sons and the way he directs them and holds certain shots on them - you'll see what I mean - Daniel Dannas holds some ICONIC facial expressions!). It not only validated my feelings but gave the whole movie a very specific characteristic that actually added to it's potential legendary status.
Another element I rather enjoyed was the fact that Eric Roberts' (LOL) voiceover for the cat's voice was SO low quality... it sounded as if he recorded it in a small bathroom on a microphone that was somehow of worse quality than the on-board microphones that come on most contemporary laptops, after a few cocktails. I picture him lying down in a bathrobe, putting in zero effort. It's great.
The cast cohesively had a certain charm in their complete lack of talent. They worked well together in the sense that they were all equivalent and never even came close to making a single conversation believable in any sense. This, of course, can be equally accredited to the absurd writing.
The cherry on top was the endless bookend shots between literally every single scene, comparable to the shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco landscapes used in The Room. In this case, they were rather pretty shots of I assume Latigo Canyon on the outskirts of Malibu (which is where the house is), and then a couple random ones of a large creek and what appears to be an island somewhere? I honestly loved this element of the film. It was a needed breath of air after each brain-bending dose of dialogue and acting from another planet. It was the yin to this film's yang.
This is a one-of-a-kind experience that is CLEARLY not for everyone, but for those who are open to it, will take you to another realm which you will not soon forget. Yes, it's in a category with some of the worst films I have ever seen, and that's why it's fantastic in it's own special way. I would most certainly do screenings if I owned a theater.