Review by Lou Goncey
A
NOTE ON VIEWING "Anguish": During the film you are about to see, you
will be subjected to subliminal messages
and a brief state of hypnosis. None of this
will cause physical damage, but if for some
reason you lose control or feel your mind
separating itself from your body, leave
the theatre at once. – From the
press kit to ANGUISH
Director Bigas Luna delivers
some tightly demented cinema in ANGUISH.
Zelda Rubinstein (the midget para- psycholgist
from POLTERGEIST, the cursed film series)
and Michael Lerner (fat + sweaty + glasses
= psychopath) are partners in a twisted
telepathic mother-son relationship. The
"subliminal" scene warned about
is a 2001-ish hodgepodge involving snails,
pigeons, psy-chedelic pinwheels, a fetus
in the womb, and Rubinstein's throaty incantations
– the audience chuckles in delight
at such avant garde silliness. Let's get
to the good stuff.
Lerner is a klutzy assistant
at an optometrist's office. He has a thing
about eyes. So, when the rich bitch ribs
him about his eyes (and his general dorkish
manner), you know its her undoing. He goes
to her house, cons his way in, and proceeds
to kill husband and wife. The he removes
their eyeballs, washes them carefully, and
then stores them in a ziploc bag.
But what's this! ANGUISH isn't
about an eye-stealing maniac afterall! The
camera pulls back to reveal an afternoon
matinee of a horror film; the Lerner-Rubinstein
fiasco (aptly titled THE MOMMY) is the film
being watched. Director Luna deftly juggles
the two storylines; Lerner lurches his way
to a movie theatre for more juicy victims
while the audience watching THE MOMMY is
threatened by an emulating pyscho in the
audience. Except he uses a gun, with silencer
attached.
Astute readers may note plot
similarities with Mario Bava's DEMONS, but
a world of difference exists between the
two approaches. In DEMONS, once the movie-within-a
movie triggers the demonic infestation,
the onscreen movie is forgotten. Luna's
ANGUISH however, delights itself with the
interplay of "fiction" and "reality,"
while constantly reminding one that we,
too, are an audience.
Production values and acting
are superb. But the juggling of the two
storylines defuses any vicarious response
to the flick, causing one to enjoy ANGUISH
only in a "Hey wow! What a concept!"
sort of way.
Innovative, well-crafted cinema,
with a director obviously enjoying the role
of illusionist/prankster.
