Week 11 - Retarded Beauty

Cyril P. Drathmoor, here. Welcome.

Well let me just say, after last week’s stripped down glory, I should have expected this.

Put on your seat belts and fresh, clean underpants.

“Pure” film is here.

Is it ever? Playing at The Rialto all this week is something you MUST see: “The Last Slumber Party.” Now, let’s just discuss why you have to see it. 1) This one cuts away all the extras: plot, characters, everything. It’s like riding the “Supertrain.” 2) As always, to learn about yourself and others. 3) If it truly is “The Last Slumber Party,” well, you don’t want to miss that, do ya?

Now, the minimal plot. A madman staying in a hospital room steals a surgical mask and scalpel and starts to kill with reckless, and yet controlled, abandon. Cutting a swath of dead from his bed to the home of the head doctor (not a shrink, a doctor in charge) where his daughter is having the strangest slumber party. He leaves a trail of half-slashed throats in his wake.

Shower me, Sweet Hollywood, shower me. Your love is pure manna, alive and beautiful. This “Last Slumber Party” shower is almost overwhelming. All the death, the dreams, the strange sound, the acting that draws attention to itself as acting, that odd scalpel, the strange continuity that draws attention to itself as continuity, the most odd of all tracking shots, the plot twisting and turning at its ends and 1,000 other things. To discuss this film is too much. That’s why, for the first time ever, this is a 2-part-review with the second part covering aspects of the film that can only be discussed after it’s gone.

So, you have the plot and some sign of the wonderies of this film. Let’s go a little deeper...

Chris, the young but heavily bagged-under-the-eye lead female, has a strange way of speaking that is some times very drawly. I’m interested here in 2 things: 1) She has a dream which anticipates and actually coticipates some of the murders. 2) We don’t see her parents or her house but we see her room and it is angst personified. A dull, bare yellow with a sloping ceiling. When compared to her friend’s bepostered joint, it is nigh on depressing. She seems to keep a friendly demeanor, however. The boys like her (one of them has been “giving it to her”) and partying seems to suit her. I would, actually, like to see another movie with her in it. Maybe a sequel, although “The Last Slumber Party 2” doesn’t make much sense. Or does it? No, it doesn’t.

Let’s talk about the tracking shot. The three girls, Chris, Linda and the third one, are strolling down a walkway after school has been let out for the summer. They walk and discuss the upcoming slumber party-filled summer. As they walk, their conversation is surreal in its stops and starts, including a wonderfying moment when Chris pauses and her friend (the 3rd one) says her line for her. These girls are a little too close. It’s a squirt strange...Let’s not even mention that Chris leaves before the end but suddenly reappears right before the shot is over. And...and...and...the students vanish. As the girls walk, the students walk around and amongst them. By the end of the shot, NO ONE IS THERE BUT THEM! They’ve all vanished. Where have they gone? There’s something eerie about these girls being the last ones on school grounds...I could probably spend three reviews discussing the shot so I’ll move on...

The killer is an interesting chap. He slits throats so fast that sometimes they don’t bleed until he’s finished the job. I’m not sure what his name is or what exactly he’s about...I just know he’s nuts. You can tell - it’s the eyes. There’s a strange thing that I like...the odd moment where he comes towards the viewers with his scalpel out staring at us. It happens about six times. I almost continually don’t know what to make of it. It’s rather thrilling when it happens. I’m thrilled now sitting here although that may or may not have something to do with the movie. I’m kidding, of course. Where was I?

The guys. 3 guys. All with elaborate hair. And, there you go. Hey, let me just talk about the “Strange Film” part of this thing. Everything’ll be pretty clear and then, all of a sudden, the picture will go all fuzzy and rather hazy. The sound is already way off and now everything is even more surreal. It’s an odd world you enter here. House hallways and hospital rooms seem to be the main instigators. This “Strange Film,” it’s very effective in its creeposity. So, I mean...that’s pretty right.

Next week…hold on…I’m not done yet…