Psychotic Saturdays! Six Twisted Flicks From The Decade Of Grunge

Time for another Psychotic Saturdays! Movie post. This Saturday I have chosen six superbly twisted flicks from that neo-hippie groovy-witchy decade of long ago! No I don’t mean the 60’s. I am talking about the 1990’s-the time of grunge. The angrier social revolution and anti establishment movement. That time gave us some great music but some very mediocre movies. There where some that stood out for trying to blend the old 80’s slasher style and atmosphere with the newer grittier psycho that related to the 90’s distortion. So for this Psychotic Saturdays! sit back, relax and take in the twisted psychotica of the piss golden days of 1992! I have started with the lighter satirical psychos so that it is a build to the darker scarier crazy that comes on with the night.


Delicatessen

“Delicatessen” is an import black comedy that is heavy on the black. The satire comes from France and is twisted to say the least. Directed by Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Pascal Benezech, Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac. The film is very post modern – apocalyptic avat garde.
The story is centered on a microcosm of a post-apocalyptic society where food is so rare it's invaluable and is used as currency. The story centers on an apartment building with a delicatessen on the ground floor. The owner of the eatery also owns the apartment building and he is in need of a new maintenance man since the original "mysteriously" disappeared. A former clown applies for the job and the butcher's intent is to have him work for a little while and then serve him to quirky tenants who pay the butcher in, of course, grain. The clown and butcher's daughter fall in love and she tries to foil her father's plans by contacting the "troglodytes", a grain eating sub-group of society who live entirely underground. The "trogs" are possibly the most sensible of the lot, as they see food as food and not money.




Dr. Giggles

“Dr. Giggles” isn’t really all that grungy compared to the other films in this list but it was one of the few hold out movies that played up on the whole 80’s slasher-rama vibe. The story held a more satire element that drew from darker corners of the crazy which is why I still enjoy this film. Directed by Manny Coto and starring Larry Drake, Holly Marie Combs, Cliff De Young and Glenn Quinn.
The psychopathic son of a mass-murdering doctor, escapes from his mental institution to seek revenge on the town where his father was caught. The giggling doctor kills his victims with a surgical theme. His goal being to give one of the townfolk a heart transplant.







Man Bites Dog

“Man Bites Dog” is another bizarre French language twisted flick. It is a truly black comedy that toys with the line between humanity and truth to art. The film is directed by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde. It stars Benoît Poelvoorde, Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert,Nelly Pappaert and Hector Pappaert. The 90’s became the decade to fall in love with French Indie cinema as referenced to in countless American Indie flicks. At least all the references were what prompted me to really seek out foreign films instead of just taking what made it’s way into Vid collection at the local Blockbuster.
A camera crew follows a serial killer/thief around as he exercises his craft. He expounds on art, music, nature, society, and life as he offs mailmen, pensioners, and random people. Slowly he begins involving the camera crew in his activities, and they begin wondering if what they're doing is such a good idea, particularly when the killer kills a rival and the rival's brother sends a threatening letter.





Raising Cain


“Raising Cain” was a darker edgier psycho flick that was as equally creepy as seeing Lithgow in ‘Dexter’. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and stars John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich, Steven Bauer Frances Sternhagen and Gregg Henry.
Jenny Nix, wife of eminent child psychologist Carter Nix, becomes increasingly concerned about her husband's seemingly obsessive concern over the upbringing of their daughter. Her own adulterous affair with an old flame, however, causes her to neglect her motherly duties until a spate of local kidnappings forces her to accept the possibility that he may be trying to recreate the twisted mind-control experiments of his discreditied psychologist father.





Happy Hell Night

“Happy Hell Night” was a great dark b-horror flick that I love. It keeps the tone of classic VHS horror but with a story and atmosphere that was all 90’s. The film was directed by Brian Owens and stars Larry Robinson, Lisa Nichols, Sam Rockwell and Irfan Mensur. The flick is straight up psycho goodness that manages to hold on to the then fading 80’s horror vision while still allowing for a more 19’s pulse to flow through the film.
25 years ago at Winfield College, psycho-priest Zachary Malius murdered seven frat boys and was put away in the local asylum. Now, however, the same fraternity stages a prank from which Malius is inadvertently set free and returns to the house to repeat his crime.






Body Puzzle

“Body Puzzle” was directed by Lamberto Bava and stars Joanna Pacula, Tomas Arana, François Montagut and Gianni Garko. The flick is perfect 90’s giallo that chills in a truly twisted fashion. A police officer makes a terrible discovery during the investigation of a series of murders: Each victim has a transplanted organ from the same man.