"At the store, can you buy a new frying pan? I'm a little squeamish about using the one we use to kill people."

More like a messed up Looney Tunes cartoon, this movie mixes black comedy and with very upbeat characters, striking a tone I've rarely seen. The reason I compare it to a Looney Tunes cartoon is how singularly directed the characters seem. These characters aren't at all three-dimensional but I don't think it's going for that. Much like a cartoon, you're watching these extremely motivated characters stop at nothing to get what they want.

I haven't quite dissected all of the film's social messaging but fundamentally, it's breaking down the illusion of the suburban fantasy. They sleep in…

A black and absurd comedy that is at times unexpected and clearly falls into the genre of films that probably couldn't be made today. I mean, not even five minutes pass and you have a comedic situation in which a young black man attempting to rob a wine cellar or a market is gun down, with the owner showing no emotion or remorse. A scene that instantly establishes the tone for the rest of the film, where anything appears appropriate and the humour and shock value come from the fact that all of these outlandish things happen and everyone reacts as if it is normal; someone mentions cannibalism and it is as if they are discussing the weather.

Personally, I…

Oh wow I absolutely loved this! It’s about an uptight couple who discover an unconventional way to make money when they accidentally kill a neighbor and it’s just so much fun. Also, I LOVE MARY WORONOV.

I remember this being a popular movie in the 80’s although I was too young to see it during its heyday. I remember always seeing that VHS box at the video store, but I never had an overwhelming urge to “sneak watch” it without my parents knowing. Once I was grown, I went through a period where I was entirely obsessed with anything related to Andy Warhol and The Factory, which is where I discovered Queen Mary W and still I never got around…

Cult movie dynamic duo Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov combine their individual time spent at the schools of Roger Corman and Andy Warhol in this absurdist bad-taste satire of the amoral cutthroat nature of climbing the American class ladder and the violently puritanical rejection of the sexual revolution.

Bartel’s silly and anarchic approach to writing this ridiculous scenario of a prudish middle-class couple literally named “Bland” raising the money for their country kitchen by luring, murdering and robbing the swinging “rich pervert” singles in their seedy LA area feels like someone who’s seen his fair share of Buñuel and John Waters. But despite all the morbid outrageousness of the satanic orgies and unpleasant attempted sexual violence I kind of loved…

“Just give me the cheapest one.”
“Woah wait a minute there’s nothing cheap about my store. You mean inexpensive don’t you, isn’t that what you meant?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what I thought you meant. You want a cheap pair of handcuffs too?”

The best part about this film’s humor is that it’s never shoehorned or unearned, but it is thrown into the dialogue a lot which gives it a ‘so quick you might miss it’ type of wit. I like the story a lot, and although it does get a bit repetitive at times, it keeps it fresh by throwing in new bits of humor while still relying on the recurring gags.

The weirdest thing about this film is how nonchalant it…