Rubber Johnny

This short feature was made by creature special effects artist Chris Cunningham as a personal project. Cunningham had previously worked with Aphex Twin and so they contributed to this project - resulting in a mix between narrative and music video, similar to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The video begins with a close-up night-vision shot of an alien creature named Rubber Johnny. A doctor seems to be talking to him - asking what's wrong, if he wants his mother, etc. Rubber Johnny seems incapable of speaking like a human and can only emit high-pitch frequency noises.

The next scene shows Johnny in a wheelchair, his enormous head leaning backwards. His small pet dog watches as Johnny suddenly comes to live in an array of dazzling special effects shots and "dances" (to some extent) to Aphex Twin.

The music is interrupted twice by Johnny's father opening the door into the basement and muttering unintelligible curses at him.

My first thought after this was over: What a bizarre feature! It actually might disturb some people - it's kind of unsettling and uncomfortable to watch. Also, as Johnny dances he occasionally flies full-speed into see-through glass, leaving remnants of his distorted face on the objects.

Cunningham is quite an original guy - I don't know if it was the drugs doing all the talking or he's simply that far out, but I've never seen anything like this before.

By the way, for those interested, it is freely available to view on YouTube.com, and is also available for purchase on DVD through Cunningham's official website.

Altogether this is an enjoyable little movie but you can really enjoy it if you imagine it as real life footage. Chris Cunningham and his crew make this out as if they are filming actual footage of a deformed teenager and if you know the back story it can strike your brain as fairly disturbing. They do it well.

This shows footage of a severely deformed super flexible teenager living in solitude in his dark basement where his parents keep him due to being ashamed of him. All he has for company is his frightened dog. This will show his reaction to someone trying to get through to him and a little dance number to keep himself occupied in his dull life.

Overall this is a great little enjoyable film and spooky at that. Bravo Chris Cunningham, you rock.

I love music and visual synchronization. Some may compare this to cheesy Hollywood movie horror films, but also keep in mind that not every person finds the "shock" video/audio effect cheesy. I love it.

Rubber Johnny is not an amazing piece, but certainly accomplishes it's goal of being a very elaborate 6 minute blitz of style. One almost grows a fear of Johnny in the beginning. Not only is he extremely grotesque, but his vocalizations almost sound inhuman. With his enormous bulbous head leaning over the back of his wheelchair and his insanely disturbing babble fits, Johnny makes a hell of an impression right off the bat. Once the actual music portion of the video begins, the score intertwines with johnny's sick mind and together they mutate into one of the most fast-paced music/video progressions i've ever seen, and quite frankly, it initial impact is hard. Still, the distortion effect wears off eventually and you begin to wonder what else Cunningham will throw at you. About 10 seconds before the end of the video you are hit with some deranged visuals of Johnny, and i think those last seconds redeem the short to be worthy of what it is.

Chris Cunningham's works have shaped the music industry. He's probably the best and most influential music video director ever. He did videos for Aphex Twin, Madonna, Bjork, Portishead and many others, but now he is retired from industry. Now he works for himself.

His independence lets him to experiment a lot and to realize himself better. Chris's world is a strange, but interesting place and it can't be censored or cut. It is a thing to be examined. Once you got into it, you become a part of it, you see everything in an absolutely different way. Just try it.

"Rubber Johnny" is a 6-minute experimental short film and a 40 page book. All in one package, both absolutely genius. Some people say that book is too nasty and film is too short, but they are only half-right. Book is nasty, of course, but everything is not that simple in Cunningham's works. To see what's behind those scary pictures, you'll have to look deeper. I'm not gonna spoil you, you've got to find out yourself what's great about it.

But the real treasure is a short movie. It is frightening, disturbing, entertaining and amusing at once. The movie is shot on a simple home camera, but "Johnny" features some stunning visual effects. Believe me, it worth watching. "Rubber Johnny" is the fastest damn thing i've ever seen and the editing is something unspeakable. And, as a rule, it is deeper than you could ever imagine. It's like reading a good book: one must use his imagination to see the author's idea. In 6 minutes Chris puts a story witch could have been a full-length film. He shows a work of a true master: we're gonna be disturbed, entertained and (most important)we're gonna examine the depths of Johnny's character. And everything in 6 minutes! Unimaginable!

"Rubber Johnny" kind of movies may turn out to be a new form of art: 2000's are fast times and fast times require fast art. Not fast-created, but short-length, clever, entertaining and deep-minded. Chris Cunningham does it first (as usual) and he does it better than anyone in this world.

Wow. This has to be one of the finest pieces of non-feature film-making I have ever seen. The best way to describe would be: The baby from EraserHead having grown up and become professional dancer.

The opening scene is one of the creepiest things ever put to screen. I could barely even watch. It lessens once Aphex Twin's music kicks in, but then your fear is replaced by wonder at the truly incredible editing techniques and visual effects.

The whole things screams for Chris to do a feature film, a truly twisted and bizarre film in the style of the aforementioned EraserHead.

Also recommended: Windowlicker and Come To Daddy.