A familiar title this week. I vaguely remember watching a bit of this one years ago. I didn't quite remember what happened though, but that's nothing unusual with my memory. I had convinced myself that it was a really good movie because there had to be some reason that the title stuck in my head. Having watched it again, I suddenly remember both why the title stuck in my head and why I didn't remember much about it. Quite simply I didn't get to the end of it first time and struggled in a big way this time.
So, the premise? We follow Henry (Michael Rooker) and a prison buddy friend of his Otis (Tom Towles) and their wierd, somewhat uncomfortable friendship. Another major player is Otis's sister Becky (Tracy Arnold) who seems to have a strange fascination with Henry, even after being let into the secret that Henry killed his mother.
We follow Henry & Otis as they travel down the slippery slope of depravity and murder. They kill purely for the kicks, just because they feel like it. There is nothing to gain from it. They will kill anyone, man or woman. As Henry advises, they don't want to go for the same type of person every time and provide the police with a MO. As the movie progresses Becky grows closer to Henry, maybe because she came from such a depraved home. She may be transfixed by Henry, but she has a naivety about her and sadly she just seems to be one of those girls who gets shit upon over and over in life. Her story was very moving and sad to watch.
Now to why I'm not a fan. Maybe this is unfair... it probably is, but I found watching this movie SO uncomfortable, I didn't want to inflict my eyeballs with it any more. I literally had to FORCE myself to sit through the last half of the movie. Maybe that's a testament as to how good the movie is or how well it did its job, but the sheer nastiness of some of the scenes is just hard to stomach for me. It is filmed with such a dreariness and grittiness it adds to the whole utter hopelessness I felt watching it. The movie is just so..... grey and depressing. Henry & Otis give absolutely no thought as to what they are doing, what they are putting people through, that it made my stomach turn.
There is one particular scene which involved a family which made me deeply angry and disgusted. I won't go into detail. If I were actually to try to explain it to you, no words could convey the scene for me, as it sounds quite lame when written down, but for me it was too much. They say everyone has their limits and this scene is quite close to it for me. I don't tend to feel revulsion and disgust when watching gore for some odd reason... maybe I can distance myself from it as it's usually so removed from reality. This movie though is very close to the truth.
After having watched the movie, the simple thought that people exist who are like Henry or Otis, fills me with revulsion and anger. They simply don't deserve to draw breath. There are few movies with a similar premise that manage to convey the depths to which some people will stoop in the pursuit of 'feeling something' or 'scratching an itch'. Maybe I should be singing this movies praises for making me feel this way, but I feel like a need a wash after having watched it, so I simply can't.
If you want to watch a truely nasty, horrible movie, then this is for you. Sadly it most definately wasn't for me.
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