Les Hackel is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him.
Kukla, 脱离
USA
USA
USA
Hideous life-size puppets - like if the depressed little ones in Charlie Kaufman's "Anomalisa" had been designed more like the actors were dressed and make-up'd in Charlie Kaufman's "Being John Malkovich" (aka ugly) and then stomped on a few times just to give them more texture - act out a whole movie, doing weird and ultra-violent things to each other, in a freakish deadpan manner.
That's what's good about "Abruptio", that it treats these grotesque dolls and their extremely limited mannerisms like we're watching a regular movie with regular actors. Kinda like "Team America" only the sets aren't miniaturized, which makes it even more intentionally(amusingly) upsetting. These unreal facsimiles of human life occupy our scale of the world and it's…
Stomach-churning as it plunges the viewer into a cloak of shadow reeking in guilt, shame, and depravity as these adult puppet feature doesn’t hold any punches back in providing one of the most upsetting narratives I had sat with in recent memory. Borrows admittedly a lot of its DNA from Saw, but developing and blossoming into something far more perverse, even if it is unfocused in its narrative trying to get up to its shocking reveal. Lots of people are upset by the content and I think this will push the limits for many.
“Lynchian” is thrown around quite liberally when describing anything that’s singularly weird, often subjectively when at a loss for words, but, when referring to a film starring life-size puppets lost in juxtaposition of guilt-stricken terror and definitive mundanity skewered by waking up from a stitched scar from a bomb being implanted in your neck as invisible strings drive deplorable motive… it’s hard to think of a better word, especially given the craft filmmaking situations this parallel to Lost Highway. there’s some depravity it could’ve latched onto better, and the sporadic CG beside the puppetry digs into vexation, but the unraveling depicted here boils so, so well into a finale that darkly pieces it all together without losing steam, working in a spiraling, momentous hindsight. one hell of a voice acting cast, too.
I certainly haven't seen anything like this in a while! This horror film starring odd-looking human puppets uses the uncanny and the uncomfortable to its advantage. It's a little disturbing at times, but just far enough removed that it feels akin to early 2000s adult swim, which may or may not be a safe and warm feeling depending on the viewer, haha. There's a lot of creativity and abstraction at play in the way the story unfolds. I'm not quite settled on how I feel about it (I missed some elements due to my viewing experience) but it's interesting to be sure!
Abruptio is uniquely its own thing. You never really know where the story is going right up to the credits. It features a talented cast, but even on a rewatch I don’t know who the actors played.
My 8 year old son walked into the room while I watching this, and he seemed noticeably disturbed. “WHY WOULD YOU WATCH SOMETHING LIKE THIS!”
“It’s one of the more weird scenes. Um, I don’t know. Just get out.”
I’d recommend starting this flick from the beginning, and not just jumping in midway like my son. It goes some weird places. I enjoyed the ride.
The credits end with, “For Sid”.
RIP Sid Haig.
“Is there a blessing we should say or something?” “Do you think anyone's listening?”
A unique horror feature done entirely through puppetry, with not-so-subtle references to it in its story (featuring an ending that, for better and worse, will make or break not just reception of Abruptio, but its rewatch value also in the process). Some things we have more control over than we really want to admit
And yes the "for Sid" at the very end of the credits crushed me
Kudos to director Evan Marlowe for completing this bizarro decade-in-the-making project and for creating an array of life-size puppet people that will be taking permanent residence in my nightmares from here on out.
I find it fascinating that a genre film would feature a cast of lifelike puppets, given how non-traditional it is. It's not something that I've seen much of aside from some early Dustin Mills films, but even then, puppets haven't had their time to shine as far as the horror genre goes. I don't intend to make this the main focus of this review, but I can't help but be in awe of Abruptio. Not only is it unique, but it has personality, and I think it is likely to maintain an audience for years to come in spite of the challenges that the production faced during the pandemic. There's passion behind and in front of the camera; there's a…
