The Dark Backward

Marty Malt (Judd Nelson) is a miserable, unfulfilled garbageman who aspires to be a successful standup comic in the wake of his mundane life. He frequently performs his abysmal schtick at seamy diners and unattractive dives, with only one fan; his best friend and fellow garbageman, Gus (Bill Paxton). One day, Gus notices that Marty has a disgusting lump on his back that quickly sprouts into a fully grown human-arm. Miraculously, Marty is more popular now than he ever was before, and becomes the target of the sleazy talent agent, Jackie Chrome (Wayne Newton), who previously wanted nothing to do with Marty after seeing his loathsome act. In the mix of it all, Gus, his once faithful, dim-witted best friend turns sickeningly manipulative and controlling of his new friend's found fame, and begins to be grossly violent towards the man and his already fragile self-esteem.

As you might've guessed, The Dark Backward wants to be called a "cult movie." Whether or not it has earned that status today I cannot say, but I can say it is one of the strangest and quirkiest film I've seen in quite sometime. Adam Rifkin, a director I have lauded in the past for making the brilliant anthology film, LOOK, chronicling the lives of unsuspecting people as they are recorded numerous times a day with surveillance cameras (he followed the film up with a Showtime TV show that ran for eight episodes, as well), the cult-comedy, Detroit Rock City, about four die-hard KISS fans trying to score some tickets to their big show, and Chillerama, an anthology horror film he contributed to, is the perfect man to write and direct such a story. It is told through his trademark eclectic ways and his appetite for crudely entertaining story tricks that are so sick, depraved, and outlandish that they beg an audience to appreciate them.

The film erects one of the seamiest and dirtiest environments this side of a landfill, with some grimy cinematography, complimenting the overall tone of the film, along with presenting the characters in such a disastrous light. Our main character, Marty, always appears hunched over, drenched in his own sweat, shaking and quivering as the next setup commences. His friend, Gus, commits to some of the dirtiest acts in the film, one including eating rancid chicken found in Marty's refrigerator. The cult films I appreciate the most are ones that can't be placed in an existing genre. This isn't a comedy, because little laughing is done, drama isn't the correct word, horror is a step-up, but not quite, and any other genre doesn't prove satisfactory. It is simply film, in which we watch and immensely try and grasp long after the event is over.

In a way, the film reminds me of Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy, starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. In that picture, we were given characters we were depressed and saddened to watch for a long period of time. I felt nothing but moroseness watching the picture, seeing De Niro's Rupert Pupkin wander aimlessly scene after scene, believing every encounter he had with someone was a genuinely meaningful one, and after watching Marty being led through his career as a comedian and a sideshow attraction by his friend Gus, I feel the same sort of moroseness.

I'm a fan of cult cinema and The Dark Backward unnervingly pushes my envelope. It is satire of epic proportions, a comedic exercise so dark and so saddening that it almost must be seen to be believed. I mean, if you can handle such a thing.

Starring: Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton, Wayne Newton, Lara Flynn Boyle, James Caan, and Rob Lowe. Directed by: Adam Rifkin.

This movie is creepy and amazing. It's like an overlong Liquid Television sketch. The actors, the sets, everything looks dirty and depressing. Bil Paxton is never clean, Jud Nelson never stops sweating, Laura Flynn Boyle never looks happy, and the town never has sunlight. It'll throw you off if not prepared, but honestly, it's a great movie. It makes no sense, except in the world it created, and that's the beauty of it. This movie is great.

Part fable, part nightmare, part black comedy, part cult film, and a whole lot of fun, is how I would describe "The Dark Backward". Way up there on the "strange scale", Wayne Newton, Bill Paxton, Judd Nelson and the rest of a perfect cast project their enthusiasm in every scene. Obviously aimed squarely at the "midnight movie" crowd, it hits a bullseye with the target audience. Mainstream comedy "Wedding Crashers" viewers are warned to avoid at all costs. Highly recommended to admirers of filmmakers who would dare to be different, take risks, and produce a movie looking for a specific audience. Give "The Dark Backward" three thumbs up, one from each arm. - MERK

Adam Rifkin has a resume of films that could have been. They are inspired, ambitious, original, but at the same time almost incomplete. The Dark Backward encompasses all these qualities and more.

The film opens promising enough. Judd Nelson as Marty, looking something like Crispin Glover in Back to the Future, sweats on stage delivering some horrible stand up comedy. We then meet Gus, Marty's "friend" played with villainous comic timing by Bill Paxton. He urges Marty on to keep at the stand up.

The film plays off like a twisted moral anti fairy tale. It's the almost rags to riches story gone awry, as Nelson plays a horrible stand up comic who's only talent seems to be an extra appendage out of his back.

Rifkin's allegory is great and the ending is a spectacular take on show-business and what it truly takes to come to fame. But it's the middle that sort of fails. It's painful to watch. Such pains are great to see in some films when writers are able to spice it up with great dialogue or endearing characters, but most of it is just revolting schlock. Rifkin goes to great lengths to show how pathetic the lives of Gus and Marty are. It's a bit much.

The saving grace of the film is Bill Paxton. He makes some of the disgusting material work, going from pure disgust to some shocking laughs. Sadly, Paxton doesn't do much comedy. For better or worse, this film may be the reason why. He is unbelievable and the way he sinks into the material (and other things) makes the film almost work.

Adam Rifkin seems to be full of half baked ideas. They're good ideas and strange ones at that. His projects never seem to have a fullness to them, but they are full of strange inspired moments that are unlike any other film. I don't know if we'll ever see Rifkin's material reach their maximum potential as these ideas don't sell to the mainstream, but we should enjoy strange sick gems like the Dark Backward from time to time.

You can't knock knock this film's originality. Dark, at times disturbing, this movie is, like watching Bill Paxton eating containers of take out, way over their used by dates, or sucking the breasts of a naked corpse in a garbage dump, which isn't that funny, and pretty offensive and improper. Seeing Judd Nelson, in a preview of this, make me wake up to just a what a cool and good actor this guy really is. In my opinion, even though Wayne Newton is very good here, as a heartless talent agent, Nelson also should of got some friggin' award, as the unfunny, 'stars in his eyes, stage struck' comedian, who should wake up and smell the coffee. His ailing Mom tells it like it is, saying "You're not funny Marty". But the real joke there is the obvious underlying sarcasm that comes across in just unfunny he really is -the below zero 'suck' quality of his jokes, that don't even make sense, and are are so unlaughable, where in reality, after a test run, no one would hire this guy, if even feeling sorry for this geek. But again, there's the joke, the satire, of him being hired, where in the story's world, we get the notion, he would has been hired by some people who would of felt sorry for him. Here's a most different contrast of character, to the ones, Nelson usually plays. He's so good in this. But luck has turned his way in the form of a small lump growing out of his back which becomes a third arm. In the early phase of it, his useless doctor, who has a kinky assistant, slaps a band aid on it. Days later, Nelson returns. The doc (James Caan) goes ape at him for coming in, with, what he calls a little problem. Here he becomes an overnight sensation, where him and Paxton, an accordian player, become double act. I'm sure, people would certainly pay good money, to see a guy, with a authentic third arm growing out his back. It's all too absurb, or bizarre to consider. But this is quite a bizarre film. Another one of those, that stand alone, which we'll be distasteful to a few movie goers out there. Others will love it cause of the idea and it's originality, but mostly it's dark side, it's title, most suiting. Rob Lowe is impressive here too, as another talent agent, a smarmy sort, where Lara Flynn Boyle as a cafe worker and Nelson's love interest. Panic strikes too, when Nelson's third arm starts to disappear. But he comes up trumps in the end, as an overnight real comedian, partly thanks to his brief third asset. Yes, this is a distasteful movie, but sometimes things in bad taste are entertaining to many are few, where some of surely would be missing one short of a dollar. Check this flick out, just for it's originality.