Adrenochrome

'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.

Adrenochrome channels a grindhouse-infused John Waters as it takes the viewer on a breakneck trip through a shattered kaleidoscope of blood, violence and bacchanalian debauchery, not stopping to make much sense along the way. This may not be an "instant classic", but it smashes through its fragmented narrative with enough charm to one day develop a low key cult following. Best consumed under the influence of multiple psychedelics.

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

What the actual hell is Tom Sizemore doing in this mess? Misirlou (rebranded Adrenochrome) feels like a late-night YouTube rabbit hole turned into a feature film-with all the chaos, none of the polish. To its credit, the idea of throwing every American right-wing conspiracy theory into a blender is, on paper, quite fun. And yes, the absurdity of the plot has its own twisted charm.

But that's where the praise ends.

The writing is painfully clunky, lacking rhythm, coherence, or any real depth. The characters resemble NPCs in a broken video game, uttering nonsensical monologues.

Visually, it's a disaster: it looks like the entire thing was shot on a cheap camcorder stuck on autofocus, with random GoPro angles thrown in for added confusion. There's no visual consistency, just shaky, amateur-grade footage that makes The Blair Witch Project look like Citizen Kane.

The soundtrack isn't bad-some tracks even slap-but they can't save a film that feels like it was assembled during a paranoid fever dream.

Sizemore's presence is baffling, like watching a fallen star wander through a student film. If you're into cinematic oddities for the sheer what-the-f*ery of it all, give it a go. Perhaps using the drugs that abound on screen would make the experience more enjoyable. Otherwise, consider this your warning.

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.