Even Sound Won't Save You

Today Walton and I are hosting a BBQ. Back in PA I frequently would DJ parties and host outdoor gatherings. I love the whole aspect of hosting a party. Specifically with party co-host and expert Lauralie Navo by my side. While putting together a DJ set list has always been fun, my favorite part was creating an element of Ambience throughout the party. For Halloween Parties I'd cut together a DVD of graphic death scenes from horror movies, for a valentine's party it was a DVD of sex scenes and for 80's themed parties it was dance scenes/montage scenes from the 80's classics. As of late though (the last 2 years) I've gotten well.. a little lazy.

I began to instead play movies on mute. When picking a movie there are major elements to think about. Firstly, the film can never have too complicated of a plot or at the very least the plot can be overshadowed by the overwhelming vision awesomeness. Secondly the film should have plenty of HOLY SHIT moments be it ultra violence, graphic nudity and sex or just plain bad taste. Out of 1,300 DVDs... these are my 10 favorites to pull out in these scenarios.


10. Naked Lunch
Cronenberg is normally always a safe bet, however most of his movies are super heady. Videodrome, The Fly, Scanners all have great holy shit moments to them, but they also hit random moments of normalcy. Naked Lunch however never has time to have a down-time. Based on the 'unfilmable' novel by William S Burroughs, Cronenberg decided to instead focus on Burroughs drug-fueled writing of the novel more than the novel itself. It leads to some of the trippiest and fucked-up footage ever put to celluloid.




9. Fist of the North Star
Confession. I don't like manga and anime. I've attempt to watch and enjoy but in my 25 years I've only managed to find two animes that I wanted to own. Akira... and Fist of the North Star. I own Akira because well... it's a classic that any serious film collector would own. I own Fist of the North Star because it's fucking retarded. Now some people will tell you that it's a science fiction/post-nuclear war epic. Which I guess it is... but let's cut to the chase. It's about two guys... one can cut you with his fingers, the other can cause you to explode in one punch. These guys want to fight each other... this is their story. Fucking BAD ASS



8. Basket Case 2
But Matt? What if my party goers have never seen the original Basket Case you may be asking. To that I say who gives a shit? Basket Case 2 takes place immediately where the first one left off. It follows former siamese twins Duane and Belial Bradley as they take refuge in Granny Ruth's home for freaks. While it's definitely not packed with the gore and nudity that I normally require for these movies, it's 90 straight minutes of balls to the wall insanity and kinda cool special effects.



7. Street Trash
Street Trash is a basically plotless movie. It deals with homelessness and the gang war between different homeless people living in a junkyard. There's lots of sex and nudity and comedy to make the film enjoyable. But that's not enough, there's a second plot point about a mysterious case of cheap alcohol named Viper. Just one sip and you turn into a giant pile of goo. Eventually these two plot-points meet in glorious harmony.



6. Humanoids from the Deep
Humanoids from the deep is the touching story of mutated Salmon who just want love. They do have a shitty way of getting it though. They typically wash up on shore and then just rape the ever loving shit out of the first female it can find. There's a whole lot of nudity not to mention lots of gore and even a weird birthing sequence.



5. Terror Firmer
Picking just one Troma flick was very difficult. There's so many different choices. Toxic Avenger, Tromeo and Juliet, Polutrygiest ... chances are if Lloyd Kaufman directed it, it'll make you laugh and puke at the same time. Terror Firmer easily is the most fucked up of them all. There's fetus' being pulled out of pregnant women's chests, anal-raping with a funnel and fat man being eaten by an escalator... and that's just the first 20 or so minutes. Beyond that Lloyd's packed it with tits, shit and more tits... hell sometimes there's even tits with shit on them. This movie also has such fun and cheesy dialogue that it might be worth not muting it or at the very least putting the subtitles on.



4. Pink Flamingos
It's getting close to 40 years since Pink Flamingos first came out and it still has the power to induce vomiting. In all the years I've watched fucked up movies, none left me feeling as uncomfortable as John Water's breakthrough film. It has it all incest, murder, chicken-fucking, shit eating, blowjobs and rape. It's all done with tongue firmly in cheek; but that still doesn't make it any less unsettling, specifically when you factor in that everything you're watching is real. Like Terror Firmer the over the top performances and wacky dialogue is worth keeping the sound on.



3. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Much like how I don't like Anime, I also don't like kung fu movies. Shocking since I'm self diagnosed with yellow fever. Regardless Riki-Oh is much more than you're average kung fu movie. It's one of the most impossibly violent movies ever made, most of the film makes little to no sense but it doesn't matter. It follows Riki-Oh and innocent man trapped in a demented prison system where the evil rule. If you've ever wanted to see a man strangle someone with his own intestines this is the film for you



2. Forbidden Zone
Before Danny Elfman was Tim Burton's go to man, he was the leader of Oingo Boingo, a band that made pedophilia super catchy. Before he was the leader of the band and turned them new wave, they were a traveling vaudeville act formed by Danny's brother Richard and Matthew Brightman. I can't explain this movie, nor can I think Richard and Matthew. It's about a secret doorway that leads to a hell-like realm where Satan is a tab-dancing crooner and is co-ruled by a midget, his evil wife and his constantly topless daughter.



1. Dead Alive


I want to say that you could go with any of Peter Jackson's first three movie. But while Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles are outrageous and bizarre in their own right... they hold NO candle to the goriest movie ever made Dead Alive. I've seen more conversations stop dead in their tracks while this movie was on than anything else. While it's a slow burn at first once you hit the 20 minute mark where a women eats her own ear, the film quickly turns into something else entirely. The final 30 minutes contain some of the most incredible ways anyone has ever been murdered on screen, not mention buckets of blood. The plot is loose enough. Boy falls in love with girl, Boy's overbearing mother becomes a zombie, boy must protect girl from Zomommie and her other zombie friends. Also there's a party scene that zombies crash. if you haven't seen or heard of this before... you're welcome.