You can't help but wonder where some of the filmmakers of the punk-era of filmmaking, the true undergrounds. Those of the Cinema of Transgression movement and various rebels from back then. Filmmakers that really, truly, never gave a f'ck. Jon Moritsugu was one of those, and one of few who seems relatively active today. Sure, it has been about 10 years since his last feature, but now he's back. So let's see what the filmmaker who brought us the classic short "Mommy Mommy Where's My Brain" and some features like "Mod F'ck Explosion" and "Scumrock" has to offer in 2013.
Don't worry, the movie is weird. It's about tainted pork that makes a woman smarter. She goes from being a total dimwit to having way above average IQ after a piece of the pork. Meanwhile, another woman is able to hear plants. It's not your typical pork, clearly. The necessary part of the plot ends right about there, but the movie continues to be quite funny still. Among the great scenes in the movie, my favorites would have to be those with the woman in a pig mask (as they tend to lean towards the erotic) and then, of course, the stop-motion sequence towards the end where a toy/candy land is covered by pork. It's as if Jan Svankmajer made "My Little Pony"!
Even though it doesn't really seem like the woman (played by Jon Moritsugu's wife Amy Davis) gets THAT much smarter, it still works as a fun concept. They also make sure that no one will be confused about what's going on by literally having the IQ above her head, slowly moving up from 70 to 120+. I think that's good, since the movie is really damn weird outside of that. Unlike something like "Mod F'ck Explosion", which I couldn't get into, I found plenty to like in this one. It's not gonna be in my top movies of the year, of course, but it's a fun underground production.
Some of the flaws here are quite intentional things. You can't complain that the acting, effects, editing, etc. is bad when there was never an intention to make it "better" than this. The one thing I found weird was when the dialogue was put over scenes where they clearly didn't talk - such as when they walked with their backs towards the camera, or that long car scene. It's not really the way they did it, but for some reason the scenes were rather long. Maybe there was a need for certain plot points to be brought up and they needed a way to get it out there? Perhaps.
"Pig Death Machine" isn't the grim and twisted underground movie you might expect from the title, but if you have seen a Jon Moritsugu title before then you'd know kinda what to expect. It's a strange, cheesy and funny piece of work, and I can definitely say that Moritsugu is back with something interesting here. Parts of it are tedious, but the fun and weird outweigh the bad. It'll get a few laughs out of you, but more often than not you'll scratch your head. If you miss the Cinema of Transgression filmmakers, John Waters or similar, then just sit back and enjoy this - if you can. Jon Moritsugu doesn't always make that easy.
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Don't worry, the movie is weird. It's about tainted pork that makes a woman smarter. She goes from being a total dimwit to having way above average IQ after a piece of the pork. Meanwhile, another woman is able to hear plants. It's not your typical pork, clearly. The necessary part of the plot ends right about there, but the movie continues to be quite funny still. Among the great scenes in the movie, my favorites would have to be those with the woman in a pig mask (as they tend to lean towards the erotic) and then, of course, the stop-motion sequence towards the end where a toy/candy land is covered by pork. It's as if Jan Svankmajer made "My Little Pony"!
Even though it doesn't really seem like the woman (played by Jon Moritsugu's wife Amy Davis) gets THAT much smarter, it still works as a fun concept. They also make sure that no one will be confused about what's going on by literally having the IQ above her head, slowly moving up from 70 to 120+. I think that's good, since the movie is really damn weird outside of that. Unlike something like "Mod F'ck Explosion", which I couldn't get into, I found plenty to like in this one. It's not gonna be in my top movies of the year, of course, but it's a fun underground production.
Some of the flaws here are quite intentional things. You can't complain that the acting, effects, editing, etc. is bad when there was never an intention to make it "better" than this. The one thing I found weird was when the dialogue was put over scenes where they clearly didn't talk - such as when they walked with their backs towards the camera, or that long car scene. It's not really the way they did it, but for some reason the scenes were rather long. Maybe there was a need for certain plot points to be brought up and they needed a way to get it out there? Perhaps.
"Pig Death Machine" isn't the grim and twisted underground movie you might expect from the title, but if you have seen a Jon Moritsugu title before then you'd know kinda what to expect. It's a strange, cheesy and funny piece of work, and I can definitely say that Moritsugu is back with something interesting here. Parts of it are tedious, but the fun and weird outweigh the bad. It'll get a few laughs out of you, but more often than not you'll scratch your head. If you miss the Cinema of Transgression filmmakers, John Waters or similar, then just sit back and enjoy this - if you can. Jon Moritsugu doesn't always make that easy.
More reviews at FilmBizarro.com
