The character motivations that some might have trouble with all refer back to the title - Director Stuart Gordon (better known for 80's body horror like 'Re-Animator' and being the writer behind 'Honey, I shrunk the Kids) spends considerable time slowly revealing how Rea's beaten down Thomas and Mena's skanky-hot but fairly dim Brandi feel stuck by their various predicaments. I found it a little close to the bone at some moments watching the downward trajectory of Thomas' day - not that I've ever actually been out of a job and a home and a future all at the same time, but the portrayal preys on nagging uncertainties that all of us feel (unless you're comfortably well off and haven't been hungry) and the drab 'television' feel of the film compounds this, elevated by moments such as the opener slo-mo shots of the bemused denizens of a old folks home set to gangster rap, the slow mo, bone-crunching moment where the whole story goes down the s-bend, and especially the lava-lamp match-cut from Thomas slowly dying and bleeding in the garage to Brandi, half 'ecstatic', half hysterical fucking her wanna-be thug boyfriend Rashid. It could be such depressing and dire material, but it's played just right to be sick, black and funny, and I almost stood up and cheered at the conclusion to the way Thomas and Brandi's story concludes, so for one of them, at least, it becomes a near heroic story of hope - the fucker just wouldn't die.
A great low budget movie that turns exploitation cinema upside down - 'based on a real life event' perhaps, but making something pretty special from a hopeless little story, with director Gordon skilfully managing to hit the audience with some great visceral gore and horror at the same time.
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