Sang-froid

One of my favorite scenes in Pulp Fiction was the one with Butch and Esmeralda Villalobos, the cab ride. Not many people I watched it with, and most of you maybe, didn't really care for it. More than half of the scene didn't make the final cut. I thought it was intriguing, this woman wants to know "what it would feel like to kill a man."

Imagine my surprise when I turned on this movie, CURDLED; starring Esmeralda herself, Angela Jones. Her character, Gabriela is fixated on murders. She keeps scrapbooks of newsclippings and the likes. Then she joins a crime scene clean-up crew. Only she aint too bothered that much with the actual cleaning up. Instead she savors the thought that 'this is where the killing actually happened, right here.'

What miffed me was that I found out that Tarantino was the Exec Producer, but he didn't help out with any of the writing. (IMDb only credits him with the news reports) There were a few scenes he could have spruced up, I'm sure, especially at the cleaning crew's home base. There were a few blahh moments. I also wondered if he could've been ballsy enough to keep Angela Jones as the same character as in Pulp Fiction, instead of the ditzy not-all-there Gabriela. But I guess this was a Reb Braddock vehicle. I see this started out as a short of his. Billy Baldwin is also very good in this.

I give this a 7 or an 8, I'm not sure which I'll choose just yet. It's really a solid 7.5 on IMDb's 1-10 scale.

Definitely check this movie out.

This movie had the potential to be a great black comedy with the idea behind it, but it falls very short. There is very little in this film that impressed me or made me laugh. It's like a black comedy without the black (the film tried to be violent and gory, but looked little more than ridiculous) or the comedy. The film is about a woman (Angela Jones) who quits her job and decided to go work for a company called PFCS (Post Forensic Cleaning Service) when she becomes fascinated with a serial killer known as the "Blue Blood Killer", a psychopath who goes around Miami beheading rich women. The company is a cleaning service that is called in to clean up the blood and guts left behind in homes in the aftermath of a murder, after the Cops haul the body and evidence away. The premise for a company like this is funny (one of the only moments in the film that caused me to laugh was their T.V Commercial), but the end result is not.

I can see why Quentin Tarantino was attracted to a project like this. Word on the street is that this was originally a funny short film that was shown at Sundance in the early 90's and after the success of "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction", Tarantino bankrolled this full length version of the movie and released it later on video with his "Rolling Thunder Pictures". Tarantino seems to be very amused and fascinated with the idea of a cleaner or cleaning service to clean up the mess of the deceased. He surely watched Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita" many times in the later stages of his video store clerk days and used the idea of "Victor the cleaner" for his Winston Wolf character in "Pulp Fiction". The idea of a "cleaner" is quite funny and worked very well in both films, but here, it simply does not work beyond the admitted hilarity of the T.V commercial and of the mock-up sensationalist reality-TV show excerpt in the middle of the film. The rest of the movie is boring and pointless and the acting, apart from Angela Jones, is pretty stale. If you want to see real black comedy that will make you laugh (and cringe, that's another thing this film was missing), I would suggest seeking out the early works of Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting", "Shallow Grave") and the Coen Brother's "Fargo" over a boring film like this. 4 out of 10

When Curdled was in the cinemas I missed it, but now I rented the VHS and I'm happy, having seen it. I had a couple of hours of pure fun. This is a very good "black" movie: in Europe we'd rather say "noir with a touch of sophisticated humour"or "black comedy". The actresses are impressive and the plot unique. Just follow my advice: if you loved Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs don't miss it, Curdled it's even better!

It's surprisingly hard to make fun about serious subjects, like murder. Curdled succeeds in it: it's a hilarious film about a girl obsessed with murder, with a nicely twisted vision of the world. Yes, it has it's faults, but there are some irresistibly funny moments in it as well.

Jones does an excellent job in this black comedy, it really is a shame we haven't heard more of her. Even Baldwin fits in his role! The soundtrack is spicy and quite excellent. Braddock has extended this from a short film, and unfortunately it shows in some places. A few scenes feel, well, boring, and dialogue isn't as sharp as it could be.

Tarantino is often linked to this film, although he was only the producer and wrote a very little piece of script. However, there are connections to his movies in Curdled and they are fun to catch.

My score: 3/5

Tarantino presents this little gem, which he caught at an Italian genre festival while promoting Reservoir Dogs (he relates the fateful anecdote in an epilogue after the movie on video.) It shares with that director the nervy, hip black-comedy attitude, an absolute command of cinematic techniques, and a post-modern approach steeped in b-movie history. However, where QT's films (and similar triumphs like Go) are explosive, this one is insidiously subtle and dead-pan; so much so that the gradual recognition of the filmmakers' intentions will give you the shivers. The creeping revelations of the themes, the dark pastels, self-referential script and straight-faced performances are reminiscent of earlier successful dark comedies, like Parents and I, Madman. Jones (her solo dance is a knockout) and Baldwin are both dead-on, and the director and editor never miss a beat. This is one of the best films of the 90s. (by the way, did anyone notice that this film opened about the same time as Headless Body in Topless Bar? quite a coincidence.)