The Weirdo

Scanning through the threadbare plot: Mildly retarded man falls in love with troubled girl, is pushed around by town bullies and then, eventually snaps, murdering those who caused him pain. THE WEIRDO, made by one of the most reviled directors in cinema history - Andy Milligan - should be taken with a grain of salt. He has a passion for the odd and makes due with what he's given, but we all know he doesn't have a talented bone in his body. Here, in THE WEIRDO, Milligan's budget seems to have been "upped" significantly since bad movie epics like THE BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS and GURU THE MAD MONK. Fortunately, those schlocky aforementioned films had a certain flare in 'em, while THE WEIRDO is nothing but talk, talk, talk without pay-off. I had hoped in the final massacre it'd be in brutal and spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, Milligan seemed more in interested in making a drama about Donny's torment, pain and involvement with his romantic interest, so little focus was on the actual revenge theme. I'm pretty sure I dozed off at some point, but in a movie like this, can ya blame me? Really, this is bottom-of-the-barrel material. Apart from the interesting [yet highly derivative] concept, THE WEIRDO has absolutely NOTHING of worth.

The Weirdo tells the story of Donny, a simple young man mistreated by almost everyone but his aunt. He finds love and happiness with a slightly crippled lass named Jenny, but you just know things aren't going to turn out all sunshine and good times. Though broadly a horror film, and certainly drawing on classic genre themes and situations, much of The Weirdo is occupied by brooding drama, heavy on dialogue as Milligan piles up his dysfunctional concerns. Lots of typical Milligan stuff seems to be there, a loathsome priest, an even more loathsome mother, retarded people and constant mean spirited behaviour from most of the characters, the film is an essay in casual grinding cruelty, innocent simplicity slowly broken down till mad and murderous climax, an avalanche of deliriously inept slaying packing quite the punch. The climatic shenanigans I pretty much expected, what took me rather by surprise in the film though was how moving it is. The writing seems really to care about Donny and Jenny, they are in a terribly sad situation and the film never seems to be exploiting them. The small, committed cast and unfussy direction help out here, although the film has an everytown setting and the action moves around a number of different places it always feels claustrophobic, this gives it a sense of inevitability, that Donny will be wronged for no good reason wherever he turns. There's a sincerity and compassion here that really works despite the oddity and comically broad touches like the abundance of slapping, happily this feeling is backed up by some decent acting. Steve Burington does good, sympathetic work as Donny, slow and seemingly simple, pitiable rather than pathetic and with an edge of menace. In fact throughout the film I kept being reminded of some or other similar if not near identical turn in a different movie, just out of reach of my recollection. Jessica Strauss is sweet, childlike but lovable as Jenny and her relationship with Donny comes off as unforced and natural as such a set up was ever likely to be. Sure it's a bit of a fairy tale, but they work well together and are rather touching. Naomi Sherwood is Donny's aunt and comes across a nice enough old gal, doing her best in a situation she never asked for and probably didn't ever want. The rest of the cast is basically just a set of hateful meanies, caricatures but delivered with gusto, with a shout out due to Lyn Caryl, doing great malign work as Donny's near unfeasibly spiteful mother. The ending of this one probably would have been better with a less schlocky approach and the film is ultimately a bit formulaic, but I had a rather fine time with it on the whole. Not by any means a great film and probably not even a "good" film in the conventional sense, this is still worth a look for Milligan fans and 80's oddity addicts I think.

The Weirdo (actually entitled Weirdo, the Beginning on the video print) was a massive step up for director Andy Milligan after the train wreck that was Carnage (1986). Another in his series of 'dinner theater' productions, it was shot in Southern California with an amateur cast. And while I would never, EVER claim that it's a classic film of any variety, it weaves a strange spell thanks to Milligan's preference for deadpan dialogue, angular set-ups, and odd settings. Indeed, with the exception of only a few 'big city' shots, The Weirdo resides in a rural fairytale version of the Southland located not a million miles from the Spahn Movie Ranch. If Ingmar Bergman ever made a no-budget horror film, it might look like this, especially during its expository first hour, where characters argue, snipe, and moan endlessly at each other. With oddly affecting performances by cute little Jessica Straus and dear old Naomi Sherwood, as well as a generous assortment of gruesome deaths in the final third of the film, this is a unique example of truly independent filmmaking.

A mildly autistic, shed-dwelling loner improbably acquires an equally troubled girlfriend as he smotes his tormentors.

During his grindhouse heyday, Andy Milligan could excrete exploitation fare even faster and cheaper than Roger Corman. Unlike Corman, who (at least for awhile) aspired to better work, Milligan was content to line his pockets while expressing contempt for mankind. While predictably dour, THE WEIRDO features two prominent peculiarities.

Milligan films are littered with losers, cluelessly trying to claw their way out of hopeless situations. Though retarded, The Weirdo may be Milligan's only character cognizant that he's doomed, doomed, doomed from the getgo. Then, there's the slapping. Punks slap the weirdo. His girlfriend slaps the weirdo. His mother slaps the weirdo. A preacher's wife slaps the weirdo. The weirdo slaps his girlfriend. A caregiver slaps the weirdo. You'll swear that Moe Howard was the technical adviser.

The lumpy script bunches up all the killings at the end. Passive characters abruptly turn hostile to warrant a higher body count.

The psycho attack scenes are borderline competent, and for a flick with subterranean production values, the blood and flesh wounds look surprisingly good.

The inclusion of a cursing cleric was a cool touch, but this sad little film should only appeal to those bitten by the Milligan bug...you poor devils.

If this seems a lot different from the rest of Milligan's sparse 80s output, it's because this is actually a remake of a mid-70s Milligan film that was lost. In many ways it is the ultimate Milligan film, undone by the same elements that did in Milligan's last few films: the gritty, sleazy ensembles of "The Ghastly Ones" and "Fleshpot on 42nd Street" are replaced by bland actors from the fringes of respectable Hollywood. Beyond that the crazy, manic energy of Milligan's early films, the screaming actors, traumatic camera-work, and canned background music are long gone, replaced by a modicum of "professionalism".

Unlike his other 80s films, however, there are lots of early Milligan elements: horrible, evil mothers, sadistic and cruel authority figures, freaks (I guess Donnie's crippled girlfriend counts), and Milligan's own obvious identification with the doomed monster. The weirdo, Donnie, is basically a harmless borderline retard a la Hal Borske in "The Ghastly Ones" who is bullied and humiliated before taking his revenge in an oddly satisfying but shoddy manner. If you've read "The Ghastly One" and actually like some of Milligan's films, parts might strike you as almost touching, since so much of Milligan himself seems to be on display here, but that said the high-school cast, awkward dialog, silly 80s gang, and characters who arbitrarily change at the drop of a plot point don't really help matters. Definitely not "the worst film" ever (none of Milligan's films are even close to that), but too lumbering and leaden for its own good. Too bad the original is "lost", I'd love to see it.