Wikipedia bills it as a Science Fiction Horror film staring a very young William Hurt. I think it's a long but fascinating trip. and when I mean trip, I mean a Lysergic Acid Diethylamide trip down WTF Lane. Filled with imagery that's wide open for interpretation, it might test your patience. Because like many psychological thrillers (be honest, that's what this movie is), you're conventional thinking is on constant guard as you're bombarded with visuals and the constant question: is it really happening or is is a hallucination?
John Hurt plays a college professor that likes to tinker with sensory deprivation tanks and hallucinations. He goes as far as Mexico to get hooked up with some trippy acid made by some half-assed Incan tribe. So knowing that you can have a natural hallucination under normal conditions in a sensory deprivation tank, you know what sounds like a great idea? Add lots of acid!!! Nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Actually, it does, and he starts physically regressing to a primitive caveman and eats a goat after breaking into a zoo. He finally passes out and is found returned to normal by a security guard. Once bailed out of prison, what's the next best thing to do after an experiment like that? That's right! Up the dosage and do it again!!!
This time, things get a little to regressive and he goes primordial. Though to be honest, I had to read up on that because that wasn't my interpretation. My actual interpretation was a much less imaginative "W.T.F.?!?" Nonetheless, he's saved and taken home.
The final scene, while not anti-climatic, was a little more obvious but equally weird and we're treated to a 'love conquers all' with naked people.
I first saw this around 10 while sitting in a hotel room in Ottumwa IA, and I remember being weirded out by it for weeks. This was like going back to a very old memory and I'm surprised at how much I recognized from that night 30-something years ago. No, not much of a horror movie, but still a good watch.
Wednesday: I love it when a sequel has "Final" in the title. It's usually a lie....
No comments:
Post a Comment