Jason goes to Holehead--Day 19

Two more movies last Tuesday, and they were both pretty awesome. We started with EVIL FEED, and American take on sick-n-twisted Hong Kong gore/comedy films. At a little Chinese restaurant called The Long Pig, they serve human meat. In the opening scene, the owner is screaming at the chefs...about potential health code violations. Then after a bit of a confrontation his psychotic son kills him and takes over the restaurant. Switch to many years later, and the place is doing great business with it's unique mix of specialty foods and entertainment. They kidnap MMA fighters, force them to battle to the death with their in-house gladiators--and the losers are served up to the patrons (the house specialty is the dicky roll, which looks a bit like won-ton fried sausage.) When their beloved master goes missing, a group of martial arts experts track down the place, infiltrate it, and hilarious bloodshed ensues. Wild over-the-top action, which keeps moving along with hardly a moment to catch your breath. Hilariously twisted fun.

And then we saw PATRICK, a remake of the 1978 Australian cult classic (which I confess I've never actually seen, although I did stumble across the unofficial Italian sequel/rip-off PATRICK STILL LIVES, but that's another story.) A new nurse arrives at a remote hospital that treats coma patients. The doctor has some controversial ideas for treating the patients with electro-convulsive therapy and a drug of his own invention. And Patrick, his prize patient,...is still comatose. But when he's alone with his nurse, he reveals 1) that he can hear and see everything going on, and 2) he has telekinetic powers/control over electricity. And he can and will use his powers to keep her to himself. The power over electricity adds some elements that surely were missing in the original--like attacking people through cell phones and scanning her Facebook profile. But that's almost immaterial to the horror. The real heart of it is that someone seemingly so harmless--constantly described as a lifeless piece of flesh that happens to still have electricity flowing through it--can be so dangerous. If the original was half as good as the remake (and usually it's the other way around) I can see why it's a cult classic. And now I have to see it.

Total Running Time: 181 minutes
My Total Minutes: 347,223