Donny is a mentally challenged young man, that way for many
reasons most being his upbringing by an alcoholic mother. Basically raised by
the kindly Miss Martins, Donny lives in a shed behind her house. Picked on by
the local troublemakers and prone to wandering the streets Donny has hit an age
where he’s beginning to notice the opposite sex. First he notices Miss Martin’s
niece when she comes to stay and then while walking the nearby parks he meets
Jenny.
Jenny is a handicapped girl with a bad leg who lives with an
abusive aunt. The two of them hit it off and soon are sharing all their time
together. But tragedy lays in store for the couple. First Donny’s mother wants
to sell him as a slave to another man, the local reverend puts the moves on
Jenny, Miss Martins decides to evict Donny when she learns of Jenny and then
the gang members attack Jenny as well. All of this combines to unleash the fury
that resides inside of Donny.
Given a mega-budget and featuring more well-known actors
this sounds like a major release. But in the hands of Milligan it isn’t quite
that good. That being said from my exposure to his films this one is actually
pretty good. Even the acting, while not Oscar worthy, is pretty good. In
particular Jessica Straus as Jenny does a great job. Fortunately she’s gone on
to a huge career in voice over performing.
The movie still has that home-made feel to it. It also has
that loving attempt be Milligan to make an actual movie while still confined to
the exploitation genre. There is plenty of gore effects on display here like a
severed head featured in the artwork for the movie but most of it, while
effective, is pretty tame and simple.
As I stated in my review for MONSTROSITY Milligan falls into
that category of film makers most define by how bad their films were. But the
invention of first VHS and now disc has changed viewers so that fans of the
offbeat, the strange and the different are now able to view movies like these
and enjoy them for what they are, movie made by people who love movies but who
lack the technical expertise and budgets to make them perfect. Yeah it’s not
Oscar material but it can still be fun.
I also mentioned the fact that Garagehouse Pictures is the
little engine that could and I still hold that they deserve that title. Not
rushing titles out, not overloading a market with substandard versions like we
saw happen when VHS made its debut, they are taking the time to restore and
present movies like this in the best mode and shape possible. They’ve done that
with this film, one that a vast majority of people aren’t seeking but tried and
true movie fans are clamoring for. It’s offering the film for the first time in
HD with a restoration created from the original camera negative. One of the
extras included even shows the difference their restoration has made on the
film presented here.
Other extras include an audio commentary track with
producers Paul Maslak and Neva Friedenn, make-up man Rodd Matsui & actor
Patrick Thomas, an audio commentary with film historian Keith Crocker moderated
by George Reis, “Matsui s Monstrosities: An Interview with a Make-Up Man: Part
2”, trailers of other Andy Milligan films, trailers of other Garagehouse
Pictures films, cover art by Stephen Romano and a limited edition slip sleeve
art by Justin Miller. Once again they are limiting this to just 1,000 prints so
if you’re interested make sure you order your copy today.
No comments:
Post a Comment