Sonny Boy

This is going to be a tricky film to discuss. On the one hand, I fear over-selling it by describing a bunch of the wild stuff about it and on the other, it is definitely the sort of film that knowing too much going in is likely to be at least somewhat detrimental.

The first ten minutes feature Brad Dourif murdering a young couple, accidentally stealing their six-week-old baby, and presenting said child to his boss (Paul L Smith) and his boss's wife, Pearl, played by David Carradine. Thereafter, it rather rapidly gets more uncomfortable and increasingly weird.

It is worth mentioning that this is not a particularly gory film nor is there much in the way of nudity or swearing but that doesn't stop it from actually being kind of upsetting.

Performance-wise almost everyone is pretty amped up, none more so than Dourif, but this is not a knock against the film, particularly if you consider it as a fable, where the exaggerations are the point. The only actors who maintain a sort of even keel (at least in these choppy waters) are Conrad Janis (who people may recall from 'Mork and Mindy,' among other things) and, in you can believe it, Carradine. Janis is the long-suffering alcoholic town doc (watch out for a late character reversal that works as a really good joke) and Carradine; man, I dunno what the thinking was but it sort of works because the film presents Pearl as a woman and not as a 'crossdresser' or a trans woman -- there's really only the briefest reference (via a breastfeeding vest) that she may not be a cis-woman. Anyway, other than, you know, looking like David Carradine, he's good in the role and, by not over egging it, provides a kind of grounded center to the film.

Ok, if you are still reading, the story starts as a sort of a riff on the 'Tarzan' story, with the aforementioned child being raised by feral criminals (as opposed to wild animals) and trained to be a criminal himself, before winding up utilizing aspects of the end of 'Frankenstein' for its, sadly, over-long conclusion.

As a film, it doesn't quite work, but it's so nuts,and  for so long, that it's probably worth your time.

This is going to be a tricky film to discuss. On the one hand, I fear over-selling it by describing a bunch of the wild stuff about it and on the other, it is definitely the sort of film that knowing too much going in is likely to be at least somewhat detrimental.

The first ten minutes feature Brad Dourif murdering a young couple, accidentally stealing their six-week-old baby, and presenting said child to his boss (Paul L Smith) and his boss's wife, Pearl, played by David Carradine. Thereafter, it rather rapidly gets more uncomfortable and increasingly weird.

It is worth mentioning that this is not a particularly gory film nor is there much in the way of nudity or swearing but that doesn't stop it from actually being kind of upsetting.

Performance-wise almost everyone is pretty amped up, none more so than Dourif, but this is not a knock against the film, particularly if you consider it as a fable, where the exaggerations are the point. The only actors who maintain a sort of even keel (at least in these choppy waters) are Conrad Janis (who people may recall from 'Mork and Mindy,' among other things) and, in you can believe it, Carradine. Janis is the long-suffering alcoholic town doc (watch out for a late character reversal that works as a really good joke) and Carradine; man, I dunno what the thinking was but it sort of works because the film presents Pearl as a woman and not as a 'crossdresser' or a trans woman -- there's really only the briefest reference (via a breastfeeding vest) that she may not be a cis-woman. Anyway, other than, you know, looking like David Carradine, he's good in the role and, by not over egging it, provides a kind of grounded center to the film.

Ok, if you are still reading, the story starts as a sort of a riff on the 'Tarzan' story, with the aforementioned child being raised by feral criminals (as opposed to wild animals) and trained to be a criminal himself, before winding up utilizing aspects of the end of 'Frankenstein' for its, sadly, over-long conclusion.

As a film, it doesn't quite work, but it's so nuts,and  for so long, that it's probably worth your time.

rip pearl ela deveria ter sido mãe solo

rip pearl ela deveria ter sido mãe solo

Wow. I’ve seen variations of the mythopoetic tale of man that played with the monstrous (and being mute) but never one that turns The Unseen, Humongous, or some lost nightmare from Tobe Hooper (or even Wes Craven) inside out to center on the “monster” and his bizarre family. Really, really weird. Very gritty and downright evil between fits of prosaic realism and even lyricism and beauty. New Mexico as a dusty hellhole where you can drive into the wrong town and get murdered by a psycho - and that’s only the start of the nightmare for your orphaned infant. The kind of corrupt desert outpost where cops and mayors alike are canon fodder. Big beautiful sky.

A perverse monster western.

Wow. I’ve seen variations of the mythopoetic tale of man that played with the monstrous (and being mute) but never one that turns The Unseen, Humongous, or some lost nightmare from Tobe Hooper (or even Wes Craven) inside out to center on the “monster” and his bizarre family. Really, really weird. Very gritty and downright evil between fits of prosaic realism and even lyricism and beauty. New Mexico as a dusty hellhole where you can drive into the wrong town and get murdered by a psycho - and that’s only the start of the nightmare for your orphaned infant. The kind of corrupt desert outpost where cops and mayors alike are canon fodder. Big beautiful sky.

A perverse monster western.

"I need the money to buy a baby to raise in the box until the age of 30. My theory is that the subject will be socially maladjusted and will harbor a deep resentment towards me."
-Dr Marvin Monroe on his invention 'The Monroe Box'

A lovely piece of deranged Americana. Like the story of Kaspar Hauser told by way of Raising Arizona. An odd little mishmash of Tobe Hooper, Sam Peckinpah, Terrence Malick, John Waters, Cormac McCarthy, and George Romero that feels to somehow exist outside of time. Really confounding that something like this exists.

Rob Zombie has built a decades long film career trying and failing to achieve things this film pulls off effortlessly.

"I need the money to buy a baby to raise in the box until the age of 30. My theory is that the subject will be socially maladjusted and will harbor a deep resentment towards me."
-Dr Marvin Monroe on his invention 'The Monroe Box'

A lovely piece of deranged Americana. Like the story of Kaspar Hauser told by way of Raising Arizona. An odd little mishmash of Tobe Hooper, Sam Peckinpah, Terrence Malick, John Waters, Cormac McCarthy, and George Romero that feels to somehow exist outside of time. Really confounding that something like this exists.

Rob Zombie has built a decades long film career trying and failing to achieve things this film pulls off effortlessly.

huge lack of ability to commit to anything; it wasn’t outrageous enough, transgressive enough, conventional enough, funny enough. because of this, most of what this film was trying to do fell flat. there’s miles better films of this genre with way smaller budgets cough john waters cough and i can’t help but feel like this is a bit of a copycat.

huge lack of ability to commit to anything; it wasn’t outrageous enough, transgressive enough, conventional enough, funny enough. because of this, most of what this film was trying to do fell flat. there’s miles better films of this genre with way smaller budgets cough john waters cough and i can’t help but feel like this is a bit of a copycat.