There’s a half-baked, recurring theme of “reality vs. fantasy” that, in more capable hands, could have materialized into something coherent and meaningful.
The 1980s were a fertile era for straight-to-video movies, particularly horror titles. Grotesque is one example that went straight to video store shelves in 1988. After watching it, I can see why.
Linda Blair stars as Lisa Kruger, the daughter of a Hollywood special effects artist. She decides to take her friend, Kathy (Donna Wilkes), to her parents’ cabin to help her get over a recent break-up. On the way there, the women run into some crazed punk rockers who seem awfully out of place in the mountains.
The punkers, led by Scratch (Brad Wilson), are actually there because they were tipped off that a rich, Hollywood type has a cabin nearby with a secret. Of course, they believe that there must be a big stash of money or drugs inside. That rich, Hollywood-type is Lisa’s father, Orville Kruger (Guy Stockwell,) who definitely does not have money or drugs stashed anywhere.
Lisa and Kathy elude the punks and make it to the cabin. Kathy is introduced to Lisa’s parents and, after exchanging pleasantries including a few pranks involving Orville’s special effects work, they all go to bed.
Scratch and his gang break in and begin threatening Lisa, Kathy, and her parents about the location of the non-existent stash. What they don’t know is that the Kruger household has another resident and he’s not as polite or attractive as the others. In fact, he can be downright murderous when angered.
On paper, Grotesque might sound like an interesting concept. But director Joe Tornatore and screenwriter Mikel Angel don’t seem content with keeping the story within one horror sub-genre. What starts as a home invasion flick, morphs into a slasher, and then into a vigilante picture. This might sound like an unique combination of styles but, in actuality, it’s a muddled mess. A significant character just pops into the middle of things around the 60 minute mark and proceeds to become the focus of the movie. That wouldn’t be weird if the movie was longer than 90 minutes. But it’s not. There’s a half-baked, recurring theme of “reality vs. fantasy” that, in more capable hands, could have materialized into something coherent and meaningful. Here, though, it makes the entire movie seem like a bad joke.
Parts of Grotesque are undeniably fun, however. The ruthlessness and unpredictability of the punkers makes them scary and repugnant. (It’s too bad their performances are so over-the-top though.) Watching them get hunted down is satisfying too. Two local policemen do the “good cop, bad cop” routine in a wholly unconvincing (but hilarious) manner. Unfortunately, there just aren’t enough positives to outweigh the negatives.
Fans of B-movie schlock or Linda Blair career completists might want to hunt this one down. Everyone else should either stay clear or brace themselves for an odd combination of comedy, brutality, and straight-up weirdness.
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
