Yin Yang Insane

What could possibly be better than one Robert Z'Dar. That's right. No Roberts Z'Dar. But fortunately this movie has two Robert Z'dars. Cause lets face it. No one plays Robert Z'dar like Robert Z'dar. I wont spoil the movie for you by giving away plot points, or revealing that there are in fact only 3 scenes in this 40 min epic.

Not since Anthony Perkins performance in Psycho have I seen the decay of mans mind unfold on screen with such mastery. If you pause it just right, you can actually see the moment Z'dar cracks and splits into two.

So emotional is his performance that at times I forgot I was watching a movie and not a documentary on split personality disorder.

A gangster (Z'dar) crumbles due to the moral conundrum he faces thanks to his latest and greatest score. We watch him drive a car....for 15 minutes. Talk to himself, stop for gas, then have a shootout with himself. Its hard to shoot at nothing and make the audience believe your shooting at someone. But rest assured Robert pulls it off in a most chintastic way. Somewhere amongst the madness he dies. This is not explained, but I feel we all know what happened and its better off left unsaid.

Interesting side note. The director was initially going to cast a double in place of Z'dars alter ego. The entire budget was then used up buying chin putty to place on the actors face. Unfortunately the unknown actor died during filming being crushed by the enormous amount of putty placed on his face. Luckily Zdar stepped up to the plate and took on the role of himself.

Oof... and I thought it was hard making it through Rollergator.

I will eternally sing the praises of Donald G. Jackson on the merit of his 1986 feature, Roller Blade (an insane post-apocalyptic nunsploitation flick that has to be seen to be believed) but after the '80s Jackson and Scott Shaw developed "Zen Film-making". The idea is nice - make a film without any script or ideas and construct it via editing - but since Shaw and Jackson regularly employ actors with little talent and seemingly even less imagination, the results invariably fall flat. These Zen films are excruciating; more like endurance tests than entertainment. Granted, I haven't seen all of them, and the Zen films that take place in the Roller Blade universe are fun for those with a high tolerance level for ineptitude, but Yin Yang Insane in particular is an Olympic event. Don't let the 40-min runtime fool you. The film (more accurately, "video") consists of a number of extended takes of Robert Z'Dar driving a crappy SUV through the desert and muttering to himself. The plot is incredibly bare bones, so simple ideas that could be conveyed in a single line are cycled through endless variations.

"What's that up ahead?... A detour... Now I'll be late... They're always doing construction... never when you want them to be... my wife will be wondering where I am... can't believe I gotta take this detour... I've been driving so long... just wanna get home... another detour..."

AND ON, AND ON, AND ON. It's almost Beckett-like, really. Basically the first 15-20 minutes are a static shot of Robert Z'Dar's face as he says nothing interesting. There is a short scene at a gas station, which is the only part that "picks up". Then the final 15 minutes feature Robert Z'Dar slowly walking around an empty ranch, looking into each horse stall.

The best thing I can say about Yin Yang Insane is that it reminded me of the silly camcorder movies I used to make with my friends when I was a kid. But heck, even my 12-year-old self had the decency to make a cut once in a while. So if you are ever tempted to rent this for $2 on Amazon, just go to Youtube instead and watch some home movies. You'll enjoy them much more than Yin Yang Insane.

I've given Yin Yang Insane 2 stars instead of 1 because

1. I like the ridiculous title

2. It's not, like, morally reprehensible

3. The scenes where Z'Dar's doppelganger laughs were funny