Review of Cecil B. Demented

Introduction

In the world of John Waters, this is what passes for routine: vain and cranky Hollywood superstar Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) is abducted from the Premier of her latest frivolous blockbuster (‘Some Kind of Happiness’) by the psychotic guerilla auteur of the title (Stephen Dorff) and his gang of crazed cine-revolutionaries (The Sprocket Holes.) Under gunpoint, the diamond diva is forced to star in Demented’s new movie: an anarchic trawl through real life escapades involving the destruction of the pimps and property of mainstream cinema.

Video

A pretty decent transfer, considering it never looked that great to begin with. Water’s isn’t known for his outstanding visual compositions, Demented even says in this movie: “Technique is just failed style”. Average, nothing more.

Audio

Stereo, strange that a 5.1 track is absent but it adds to the micro-budget flavor of this film at any rate. Dialogue, sound effects and music are all clear.

Features

The region 1 disc includes a commentary by John Waters, a comedy central documentary and more besides. Whereas we’re stuck with 8 minutes of sound-bite interviews and a theatrical trailer. In the words of Bill & Ted: bogus.

Conclusion

At least three quarters of this is quite funny: Griffith flatly bazookas the p*** out of her screen image (whether through fault or accident, she acts badly very well indeed) and Dorff is scary and loony without a trace of irony. There are w*** jokes, porno jokes, gay jokes, square movie references, and more comic book violence than you can shake a stick at. But in the new polarized bad taste/PC movie world order, Waters’ film feels naïve, nostalgic, a little bit innocent, and overwhelmingly quaint. A feeling actually cemented by the truly insane conclusion involving f***ing, fellatio and at least two characters setting themselves on fire.

A belated stab at the high-brow through a kind of celebrity martyrdom in the final moments is a little rich coming from Waters but this is a far more entertaining (and passionate) trash-mash than his last (‘Pecker’). And although Hollywood movies are an easy target for this kind of low-brow satire, at least Waters has the courage of his sordid convictions, embracing its gutter-brow origins with a s***-eating grin and a knowing wink to the Hollywood power-mongers. Regardless, ‘Cecil B Demented’ is worth checking out just for the sight of Ricki Lake being clotheslined by a crazed cinema terrorist.