Frisk

This is another of those art films that goes nowhere but gets there in style. This film is gritty and fascinating in a sick, can't help but look at the car wreck on the highway sort of way. It's not bad enough to turn off so you keep watching hoping that sanity will be restored. It won't be but you watch nonetheless.

Pretty awful. Even though I had read and loved the book, I couldn't make heads or tails of the movie. Although one thing needs to be pointed out, in the films brief conventional narrative moment, Craig Chester is brilliant as the semi-comatose whore. When his trick for the evening is trying to drag his lifeless body out of his house, Chester wakes up to ask if there was anything he could have done better for them. It's hard to explain, but in a way, that one moment almost gives this terrible, rootless film a sense of humanity that leaves an impression. I would watch the first 30 minutes again for that scene alone.

This film is about a gay man who has had fantasies about killing other men since teenage.

Honestly, I see little point in the existence of "Frisk". It is a poorly made B movie with poor acting and poor production. The plot is not well explained or particularly engaging. Apart from the main character Dennis, there is no character development. So most people in the film seem like random people, making the plot more confusing to follow.

I am very disturbed by these perverted and sick minds portrayed in the movie. It is not a film for me.

I really don't see how anyone that hasn't read the book could possibly really understand what this film is supposed to be about. The character development was pretty weak, making me constantly wonder *why* the characters were doing what they were doing... and never getting an answer. And the acting really didn't help either. It was just... well, bad. It made the characters look cheap and one dimensional. Dialogue was spoken as if it was the actors' first times going over the script. You know, porn-like. I really don't get why people act like this was such a disturbing movie... I was bored throughout mostly the entire thing. If the characters had been straight, it may very well have been just another late night HBO erotic thriller.

If I had to guess, I'd say this film was made solely to shock, not to actually tell a really quite interesting story written by a brilliant author.

This is a very difficult film to review.

First of all, if you are not a gay man then you might as well not bother with this film. Even if you are a gay man, it is still important to note that it is *supposed* to be a revolting and disgusting film. I read the book first, and let me tell you -- it messes with your mind.

What disturbs the s**t out of you when seeing the movie is also what is so "awful" about the book: if you stop to think about what the central character's thought process is, then you see certain basic pieces of it that actually make some sense. THAT is what stayed with me and actually gave me a nightmare.

Unfortunately, this is where the film is lacking. In the book, we get into the head of the central character, and we hear his thoughts. In the film, Dennis's thought process is implied but not stated sufficiently. The result is a muddled film that just gets more and more violent as it goes on.

The men in this film are VERY attractive, and this of course makes it all the more disturbing -- everyone wants to see killers be like Charles Manson -- it's scarier when they look like the boy next door, and they get off on disemboweling other boys next door.

I would say that the high point of the film is probably Parker Posey. Lordy lordy, that woman... Tales of the City to Scream 3, with a stop in the middle in Frisk. She brought her usual perkiness to a role that is, well, murderous.

To sum up: definitely made for a queer male audience. Far too disturbing for the average sensitive gayboy. Hard to follow if you haven't read the book. A few moments of brilliance, but overall it's muddled. Worth seeing if you have nothing else to do and have a strong constitution and a sick mind. Otherwise, don't bother.