Entry 60: Grotesque (1988)

Grotesque (1988)

Dir: Joe Tornatore

"There is a fate worse than death."

 

Linda Blair makes her triumphant return to the Basement in a film she co-produced.  This time, she plays a young woman who journeys to a remote cabin with her best friend (Donna Wilkes, Jaws 2, Angel) for a family reunion hosted by her visual effects artist father, Guy Stockwell (older brother of Dean).  After a group of scenery-chewing, psychotic punks (keep in mind this was made in 1988, more than a decade beyond the time when people were afraid of Johnny Rotten) invade the homestead looking for money, they kill Wilkes and Blair's parents, while Blair herself manages to escape into the woods.  Out of nowhere, Blair's deformed, mentally-retarded brother (he kinda looks like Keanu Reeves as the dog-faced boy from Freaked wearing Jason Voorhee's coveralls) emerges from a secret room and begins to slaughter these loud, fast psychopaths.  Fleeing from this monstrous man-child, punk leader and his girlfriend share a bit of mind-blowing, self-referential dialogue that is tonally out-of-step with the rest of the movie : "You'd love to use that knife on that monster, wouldn't you?"  "Yeah, why not?  He's a freak?"  "If he's a freak, then what does that make US?"  "We're people; REAL people!  Everyone else is phony, but we're real!"  Blair's plastic surgeon uncle Tab Hunter (Polyester, Lust in the Dust) then shows up, and, when Blair dies, he exacts revenge upon the surviving "punkers."  Oh yeah, the reel melts at the end and the Wolfman and Frankenstein's Monster show up.

NOT to be confused with the extreme J-horror picture of the same name, I can't tell if this one is meant to be funny or not.  The "punkers" overacting and the fourth wall-busting ending lead me to believe "yes," yet the slaughter of Blair's family is played straight and tonally out-of-step with typical horror-comedies.  Either way, it's not very good.  Not really worth a look unless you're a real fan of Blair (who we'll visit again soon).