What can you say about a director and company that intentionally creates
one of the worst films ever made, even going as far as to intentionally
spell Weirdo wrong as Werido in the credits and see if anyone catches
it ? That that is exactly what happens in this surreal film about
nothing. Supposedly inspired by the old EP record, John &
Marsha, which was best seller many decades ago (it consisted of a man
and woman blubbering each other's names for a couple minutes and that
was it, yet it was a bestseller), Weirdo wants to continually have the
viewer ask, "What is this fucking shit ?" This is presumedly
what goes through everyone's minds.
More information on Weirdo may be found at http://www.myspace.com/weirdotheweirdo
while after early March of 2007, it may be ordered from CustomFlix at http://www.CustomFlix.com/224292
and on amazon.com.
So what is this DVD about ? More or less, Mr ??? of Museo Taurino and
The
Monster Within comes on and proudly announces "Hello, I'm a
weirdo, do you have the nerve to see what goes on in my head? " He
then plops one of the dishes he is washing over himself like a
skull cap, grins stupidly at the camera and you are treated to a Leone
type shot into his eye. This is followed by two hours of the most
moronic, infantile, ignorant, annoying bullshit ever seen, before he
re-emerges. He then announces even more proudly, "I told you I was
a weirdo." That's it. That's what it is all about.
You see an old building with an outside shithouse, repeated footage of
old Eerie and Pennsylvania railroad trains in Akron at the defunct
station which is now part of the University. You see extended footage of
Mothergooseland in Canton, long gone, the action taken off old 8mm film
and set to music. The Big Bad Wolf, a whale with an open mouth, The
Three Little Pigs and other menacing figures loom and leer at you while
an absurd soundtrack plats in the background. You see airplanes,
sometimes flying right side up and sometimes upside down. Ditto for
boats and kiddyland steamtrains. There is footage from Disneyland, in
varied colors and images, messing with both the screen and your
eyesight. There are waterfalls, which emit a redone splashing sound like
water being dumped out from a bucket, horses which leave loud farts and
crying babies when there are no humans around.
This is clearly a film designed to be laughed at at parties where the
audience is drunk or drugged up. It is like being on an acid trip
without the acid.
Other illogical action includes clips of bullfighters, a pile of
horseshit in a corral, litter blowing down an old set of railroad
tracks, a Christmas light display with a soundtrack that makes the
scene sound and look like something from Alice In Wonderland and scenes
from the resort town of Berchtesgaden in Germany. You are also treated to
a canal boat ride in Venice, a glimpse of Michelangelo's David in
Florence and his marble weenie worm, the church in Padua
where St. Anthony is buried, the unimpressive attributes of downtown
Doikver, Ohio, a bunch of caboose displays, a western town/tourist trap
and a gigantic St Bernard drooling into the camera. Essentially whatever
doesn't make sense is what these people turned out in the project.
"Thank god, Jeff, who did the sound effects did not put the sound of
sreeching breaks and a car crash into the bullfighting segment, like he
did someplace else in the film" commented Mr. ??? "You see,
the bullfighter in this footage, Finito, was killed in a car crash a few
months after the footage was shot back in 1974. If that effect would
have been put in the movie, you would have had a load of pissed off
bullfight fans for sure."
Instead, Finito is seen fighting the bulls with the fury of a wild man,
but to the repetitive and annoying Weirdo Theme which crops up at
numerous times in the movie, which brings us to the music.
The soundtrack, by Jeff Stoll, is far more noteworthy than anything else
in this picture. In fact, the DVD is worth having just for the score. Aside from reusing past themes from
The
Monster Within and Museo Taurino, Stoll also creates varied pieces for this project.
The Weirdo
Theme is a loud and abrasive piece, but it grows on you. It is honestly
quite effective, like something from Goblin or, dare I say, Morricone !
Aside from the song, there are Morricone-ish effects at varied times
within the playing of this score, including farting sounds, motorcycles,
breaking glass, cows mooing and horns honking. Ennio would be
proud of the comparison ... maybe.
"Weirdo is like a two hour nightmare or madman's delusion,"
explained Stoll. "It is designed to be like an extended dream or
psychotic delusion. It takes a whacked-out world and puts it on the
screen for all to see."
"I find it funny," Mr ??? added. "You see, I can envision
the reaction of people watching this shit. I see them looking like they
have just been gangraped by the time the movie ends, just staring at
the screen and scarred for life. I also see people trying to find
symbolism that is not there and try to figure out why these parts were
put in where they were. We did whatever did not make sense. No reason
other than that. Yet people love to get artistic and love to study
stuff. I see this becoming some kind of underground classic or people
calling Stoll a genius. To me this is hilarious, even funnier than
Weirdo itself."
There is supposedly a part two being made later on called Weirdo II -
Nutty As A Fruitcake. As if one Weirdo wasn't enough ... or maybe one too
many.
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