The Weirdo

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.

My review was written in February 1990 after watching the movie on Raedon video cassette.

Goremeister Andy Milligan is in a relatively restrained mood for "Weirdo", an okay psychological thriller released direct to video. His higher-brow fans will mull over the scene of a preacher's wife stabbed in the chest with a huge crucifix.

Steve Burlington takes the title role, a backward youngster who is taken care of by kindly Naomi Sherwood. Taunted by other teens, he eventually steps over the line in a romane with runaway Jessica Straus.

Convoluted exploitation genre plot has a revelation by hero's mom that his slowness is caused by inbreeding (she had sex with her brother, resulting in Weirdo). Burlington freaks out and kills his mama, just in time because she was in the process of selling him into white slavery in Mississippi (!). Unfortunately for the fans, poor makeup effects are used on mama's severed head.

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 (2+ outta 5 stars) You know, sometimes there are movies that have terrible acting, bad scripts, a silly story AND lousy direction... and I *still* kinda like 'em. "The Weirdo" is one of those movies... sort of like a cross between "Psycho" and "Marty". As poor as almost every element of this film is... I think it still comes through that the people involved *cared* about what they were doing. So what if the actors have trouble getting their lines out? So what if you can guess everything that's going to happen about 20 minutes before it does happen? So what if the scenes of violence look ridiculously fake? Okay, so I wouldn't exactly recommend this movie to anyone... but I heartily defend its right to exist! The story involves Donnie, the "weirdo" who is constantly harassed by punk teens, busybody townsfolk and an abusive mother. No one ever talks to him... or treats him like a human being... so he is filled with all this repressed rage. Suddenly he meets a pretty young crippled girl who takes an instant liking to him (being somewhat of an outcast herself). They fall in love.. but, too late. All the years of abuse have made Donnie resentful and, ultimately, psychotically violent to those who have wronged him. He goes on a bloody rampage of revenge until he is suddenly beaten to death by the angry townsfolk... or... IS he dead???

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.