GNAW: FOOD OF THE GODS PART 2 – The 'nature running riot' sub-genre chalked up a few memorably bad hits in the eighties – 'Slugs', 'Rats: Night Of Terror' etc etc. 'Gnaw' joins that select bunch. It's about a scientist who experiments with some rats and a new growth hormone and... I'm sure I don't need to spell out the rest. At first it trudges along with a slightly typical direct to video vibe, but gradually escalates into something like hysteria – by the end, anyway. Along the way lies a smattering of gore and crazy moments. The whole 'man vs nature' thing in horror just seems to push out crazy moments – but whereas in, for example, 'Rats: Night Of Terror' you only really get the one (who could forget the helmet-raising, rodent-headed finale?), 'Gnaw' boasts at least three bona fide flashes of cinematic lunacy – namely, a giant kid telling everyone to “f*ck off', the bonkers climax (where a synchronised swimming troupe is attacked by the mutant rats and a guy starts playing 'three blind mice' on an electric guitar - didn't even have an amp!), and best of all, the most ludicrous dream sequence I've ever witnessed, one which I won't even attempt to describe. It's a shame 'Gnaw' couldn't quite sustain a similar fever pitch of delirium between peaks like these, but even during its frequent lulls it's perfectly watchable hack-job horror with enough bad effects and mirth inducing performances. Definitely worth a look if you like forgotten schlock (which you very probably do).
THE CHANGER – More widely known as 'The Nostril Picker', an inaccurate title which conjures vistas of goofball eighties comedy horror and doesn't quite evoke the dubious 'charms' of this strange and seedy little film. 'The Changer' is obviously intended as a dark comedy of sorts, but how well it works on that level I'm not sure. It is quite amusing in places, but it generally succeeds more in just being a bit creepy. 'Creepy' as in.... have you ever paused and asked yourself whether the fingers of that person in the corridor who always seems to have a carrot coloured stain around their lips (and maybe a bit of drool) have just brushed against your thigh?... that kind of creepy. A desperately undersexed loner is given the gift of transformation by a Vietnam vet, and uses it to get close to young gals... instead of posing as a 16 year old male, he takes the more worryingly predatory option of turning into a teenage chick. Perving at 'her' peers in class obviously isn't enough, as before too long 'she' decides to go on a rape-murder spree. Scenes of the haggard thirtysomething dude (we, the audience see him 'objectively' in non-POV shots) hanging out with high school debutante types are pretty funny, but the queasiness has an obvious edge to it. A dildo attack on a transvestite hooker provides yet more light relief, and is probably one of the film's less icky moments. 'The Changer' is rarely explicit, but is conceptually quite twisted, and the whole undercurrent is slightly curdled and rancid, augmented by the cheap, no budget visuals (I watched the old Vipco DVD, have no idea whether the recent release from Massacre Video features a new transfer, as apparently it was shot on actual film stock but looks pretty much SOV on my copy). Not a good film, but has a claim on uniqueness for sure, and one of the few movies I've seen of late where I've felt this kind of gradually dawning sense of “what AM I actually watching?”
SEX HUNTER 1980 – A new starter arrives at a ballet college and is promptly subjected to the sadistic whims of the governess. Cue lots of rapey violence, S&M and general queasiness from the director of 'Evil Dead Trap'. 'Sex Hunter' is a fairly nasty piece of ero guro which has been compared to Argento's Suspiria – presumably because of the dance school setting, as there is little here in the way of technicolor violence and black gloved post-Giallo witchery.. The vicious sex scenes are however highly stylised, and there is a baroque tilt to proceedings which maybe does wink at Dario somehow. I like how films such as this and other comparable Pinku of the same era never abandon a certain lyricism – a wistful, windswept melancholy pervades 'Sex Hunter', although you might be inclined to overlook this poetic fragility during scenes like the one where someone's repeatedly rammed up the arse with bottles of Coke. Yes, the main draw of 'Sex Hunter' is likely to be its catalogue of perversion, and this is certainly the film's strong point – the infamous coca-cola enema aside, there's rope torture, whippings and forced incest etc etc. For what it's worth, I preferred the scene where the female lead forces herself upon her paralysed ex-boyfriend, as the wheelchair sex element, although not hugely explicit, seemed to hint at an even more beyond-the-pale version of Crash era Cronenbergian deviation. I guess you'll know whether 'Sex Hunter' is to your particular tastes or not – if you're into J-sleaze, there's certainly way harsher stuff available, but 'Sex Hunter' is pretty hard for its day and hits a certain level of 'out-thereness'. It looks good, although it lacks the seamless integration of sleaze and melodrama found in the likes of 'Star Of David...'. Pretty twisted, although speaking personally I felt less slimy after I watched this than I did after 'The Nostril Picker'!
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