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6
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8 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by John
J. Cook |
The
DVD cover art for Slime
City has a caricature reminiscent of Darkman,
the Liam Neeson character from the 1990 film directed
by Sam Raimi, reaching out with grasping hands
dripping with bright, green slime. He could also
resemble Claude Raines' The
Invisible Man as one character notes later
in the film. The accolades for Slime
City read: "Repulsive!" and "A
seriocomic gore saga!" (Per
the Phantom of the Movies and NY Daily News, respectively.)
Does Slime City live
up to all of this hype and deliver the gory goods?
Well, actually yes it does.
Something
missing from a lot of current horror films these
days is good old-fashioned fun. Lest we forget
that the thrill of sitting in a crowded movie
theater on a Saturday night and watching a scary
movie, or watching a slime-soaked, gross-out,
and over-the-top horror flick with some microwave
popcorn and soda with friends, is supposed to
be fun.
Most
new horror films take themselves way too seriously
nowadays. That's when we must go to the proverbial
"back rack" of the video store and search out
something from the golden age of prosthetic make-up,
oozing, slimy special effects and homemade goriness
of the late 1980s. Slime
City is one of those movies: a lost green
gem, covered in slime, sludge, and a little, no
lots, of blood.
Slime
City involves a college student named Alex
(Robert C. Sabin) who moves into a run-down New
York City apartment. He has very strange neighbors
who make this bizarre, blue-green yogurt/pudding
and also some wine concoction that they entice
Alex to eat. Alex consumes this "slime" and eventually
turns into a murderous monster that stalks the
streets and alleys of the Big Apple in search
of food! One of his fellow tenants is Nicole (Mary
Huner), a sexy, slutty temptress with a flowing
black mane (i.e., wig) of luxurious hair and a
killer body who tells Alex that "her door is always
open." I should note that Alex has a steady girlfriend
named Laurie (also played by Huner) whom he hopes
to invite up to his apartment for some amorous
activities. She, apparently, isn't having it.
As far
as plot goes, Slime City
actually does attempt to have one that is fairly
original and intriguing. After Alex drinks the
strange wine for the very first time he experiences
a black & white dream sequence featuring a strange
hooded figure. He then wakes up in his bed, sticky
and covered in sores. On his way home from
dinner one evening Alex begins to transform. His
face and hands appear to be melting and he starts
to throw up green slime. Ick. A street bum whom
Alex had earlier given some change chides him
for throwing up all over his 'home'. Alex responds
by beating the man to death, upon which he finds
himself back to normal and covered in his victim's
blood! Alex's sliminess tends to ooze out when
he's least expecting it, such as a first-time
dinner with his girlfriend's parents or one particularly
opportune moment during a mugging. Still, being
a slime creature comes in handy. To quote a famous
mutating character from Cronenberg's The
Fly: "I'm getting better."
Apparently
the apartment building has a history of violence.
An alchemist used to live there and his followers
were into the "whole occult scene" as one character
puts it. Alex becomes addicted to the slime that
his neighbor provides him, ravenously eating it.
He's then led down to the basement of the building
by one of the elderly landlords and shown the
"legacy" of one Zachary Devon: jars
and bottles of the multicolored slime potion and
'homemade' wine. He's also introduced to a book,
written by Devon, entitled Flesh
Control. It seems that all the tenants crave
the potion and have imbibed it in the past. A
detective (Dick Biel) is investigating cases of
missing persons in the area of the building during
all of this as well. Sound complicated? Well,
it certainly does have a lot going on in a plot
that involves a character who drinks gloop and
develops a bad complexion that causes him to murder.
Sure, the acting is amateurish
and everything has a very homemade feel; there
are several moments of implausibility, like no
one noticing Alex's suddenly graying hair and
his oozing appearance that other characters hardly
bat an eye at. But director Greg Lamberson obviously
poured a lot of energy and enthusiasm into this
film. One can tell that it was made on nights
and weekends when the actors could spare the time
(as is confirmed in the disc's audio commentary).
There's a comic tone to the disgusting proceedings
that shows us the filmmakers don't ask the audience
to take matters too seriously. Lamberson is certainly
quite a horror fan and this film is a lot of gross
fun. There's a kissing scene that rivals the one
at the end of Pet Sematary.
And the ending is a splatter-fest that's like
taking the most horrifying scenes from some of
Romero's work and placing them all in a five-minute
highlight reel! How the monster is finally dispatched
is definitely a gag-worthy payoff... In a sense
Slime City is akin
to a lighter version of The
Evil Dead in some ways, like the demonic possession
angle and the gory ending. (Heaven forbid I make
two Raimi references in a single review!)
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Slime City
is mastered from the original film elements with
a brand-new 1.78:1 transfer and enhanced for 16:9
TVs. I can say that the pic looked particularly
good on my 32" LCD High Definition TV display.
(It's amazing that they released this in widescreen!)
Obviously, the image isn't as clear as a brand-new
release from the major studios, but for a nearly
20 year old super-low budget film it holds up
pretty well. Picture quality is important, but
I'm willing to forgive some of these older cult
films and I'm sure this looks significantly better
than the 1999 VHS release.
There are a lot of extras
on this release as well, really giving the consumer
quite a value. Chief among these is the aforementioned
commentary by director Gregory Lamberson and star
Robert Sabin — the track demonstrates the camaraderie
between the two men and shares many insightful
anecdotes about Slime City's
production and independent movie making in general.
(A must-listen for any aspiring guerilla filmmaker!)
Lamberson also contributes a making-of featurette
(Making Slime) and the text for a booklet
of liner notes. Then there's a whole other feature
film helmed by Lamberson, again starring Sabin,
entitled Naked Fear
(1999; 85 minutes). I must confess that I haven't
yet watched this, but having an entire movie as
an "extra" is certainly a cool feature. (There's
even an audio commentary for Naked Fear.)
Rounding out the extras are a promo reel for the
Shock-O-Rama label and trailers for other Retro
Shock-O-Rama releases.
6/26/06
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