Monday, May 10, 2010

Trash Humpers

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: A Blair Witch “Found Tape” Whodunit for the Geriatric Set

You know how The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield were horror flicks shot from the perspective of victims who left behind a videotape as the only evidence of what actually transpired? Well, now from somewhere in rural Tennessee we have Trash Humpers, the most bizarre movie you’ll see this year, guaranteed, maybe ever.
The film is the latest offering from Harmony Korine, whose last picture, Mister Lonely, was a bittersweet drama revolving around a Michael Jackson impersonator struggling to make a living performing on the streets of Paris. This gross indulgence in the uncertain sits far afield from that relatively mundane affair, for it mostly features po’ white trash, how can I put this politely, mating with garbage cans and other inanimate objects.
Thus, the title “Trash Humpers” is certainly a case of truth in advertising, since the trio of senior citizen zombies at the center of the action remain pretty much in heat for the duration of the adventure, not that there is even the rudiments of a story to follow. And if they can’t find a dumpster or a recycle bin to rub up against, it seems like any substitute will do, such as the side of a house, especially at a window, so they can peer inside like Peeping Toms while getting off.
Here are some of the other highlights you’ll witness en route to the anticlimactic conclusion of this incessant affront to basic human decency. A redneck in a Confederate flag shirt drops his pants to have his way with an oak tree. A woman carrying a cake with lit candles walks into a bathroom and starts singing “Happy Birthday” to a constipated geezer asleep on the toilet. Zombies aimlessly ride bicycles around town with dolls attached to the rear tires. Three hookers in g-strings kneel on a bed in the doggy position patiently waiting to be mounted by the sex-crazed codgers. And so forth.
The bizarre scenes are really merely a series of non-sequiturs edited together despite having little to do with each other, the only common thread being those constantly-copulating, darned title characters. Along the way, it’s very difficult to discern whether what you’re watching derives from chutzpah or sheer genius. Maybe it’s a little of both. Perhaps the point is to poke fun at normal folks inclination to behave in conventional fashion, given how one of the monsters pauses to explain, “We don’t follow and rules. I can just smell the pain of all the people trapped in their day-to-day lives.”
In the end, Trash Humpers proves to be less a scary, “found tape” whodunit than a jaw-dropping shocksploit with one very weird agenda.

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 78 Minutes
Distributor: Drag City

No comments: