Adrenochrome

There is no movie or movie making here, it is just some self indulgent stoners who thought they would make a film to 'blow their minds', the result is just a busy mess of childish incoherence by people trying too hard to be hip and 'unique'.

Yes, there is a substance called adrenochrome. It is a metabolite of adrenaline. No, it is not a psychedelic. The major effect of the substance seems to be severe headaches.

But ever since Hunter S. Thompson wrote a passage about it in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, people have had a weird fascination with this semi-non-existent drug.

So, suspending my disbelief of the premise of this film, how was it? It was... okay. Some good fight scenes and some hot girls occupy much of the screen time.

Let me just say that anyone who compared this to Easy Rider is full of it. Yeah, there's a guy on a motorcycle, and some 60s-ish sounding music, but that's about the only connection.

Hunter Thompson does make an appearance of sorts. His literary alter ego - Dr. Gonzo - appears in one of the main character's hallucinations.

They used a rotoscoping technique a la A Scanner Darkly for the drug sequences. I think it mostly works, adding a layer of irreality to them.

Overall, I found it entertaining, but I won't be surprised if, in a week or so, I don't remember much of it.

That at least is the title in Germany for whatever reason. Misirlou is a song (title) and one that has been used by Quenting Tarantino in Pulp Fiction. This little nugget of information aside, are there similarities between this filmmaker and QT? I haven't studied up on Simms and his vita, but when it comes to the movie itself they are quite different yet Simms also gives a lot of nods to different movies (from Clockwork Orange to war movies and a lot more).

So while this is going on, you also have the director front and center in front of the camera. And I think you can argue he is not half bad. Then again the nature of the movie makes it tough to judge certain things. If you are not into experimental stuff, you will have a lot of issues with this movie. Add to that violence and nudity and it can be a very weird cocktail for some (or even many). Not really a good movie overall, but the freakish nature of it all and the fact that it is all over the place might elevate this for some viewers

Having no knowledge and expectations of this film, watched it with a clear mind with only knowing simply the plot description. As a whole, the film feels like it tries doing too much as a homage to grindhouse movies.

The story combines flashbacks with dreamlike sequences and a lot of trippy drug like moments. The visuals do look good enough as there are bright colors.

Even so, the story is entirely confusing as a lot of time, we do not know exactly what occurs is real or a fantasy.

The acting is subpar yet watchable enough. Had difficulty remembering any of the characters names by the end of the film. The lead actor resembled somewhat to Guy Pearce in Memento. A highlight character was a girl in skull face paint. Instant presence in each of her scenes.

Overall this film is a mess and a lot of these 9 and 10 star reviews are overrating it (perhaps people who worked on the film).

'Guy on a motorbike comes to town. Nobody likes him, especially not the police. He takes various drugs to have a more interesting time, but instead, this leads to violence and killing.' You could summarize 'Easy Rider' with these words, but 'Adrenochrome' just as well, 50 years later. This low budget movie took a lot of effort with the visual effects. Computer painting in comic book style and such kind of graphic tools are omnipresent. But apart from the occasionally impressive exercise in style, it has little actual content to offer. I was hoping to dream in the following night about the skull face girl at least, but it didn't happen, so the makers didn't impress my subconscious as much as they wanted to. And they tried hard. You can give this a shot if you like weird movies - did I mention the surfer cannibals? - or just run out of drugs but want to feel like you didn't. I voted an undecided 5 of 10.