Bag Boy Lover Boy

Don't just vote for Pedro, vote out this dark and disgusting cousin of Napoleon.

What an odd little "movie." Probably more of an experiment or a lost bet from drunk buddies, this comedy-horror is so out there, you feel more uncomfortable than entertained. And, even more strangely, this does have a plot and straight line from beginning to end.

An absolutely repulsive (inside and out) NYC hot dog vendor undeservedly gets his big break into modelling and is pushed too far from those using him. Way too far.

Not really to be taken seriously, as this is supposed to be a comedy, our never-hero ventures into the dark side while trying to, ah-hem, model himself after his sadistic mentor. Things don't go well.

Admittedly, I did laugh a couple of times, namely with said boss/mentor. He did steal every scene he was in and that's totally a good thing because the actual lead actor was not pretty to look at. Yeah, that was the point, but once you see how gross he is on the inside, his exterior becomes even more repulsive.

Not really recommended as I don't see anything of mention here. It was, again, an uncomfortable experiment and the few laughs were not worth the measly 77 minutes. Plus, about half-way through, they tried, unsuccessfully, different horror subgenres that made no sense/connection to any of the motivations in addition to somewhat ripping off the movie: Maniac.

See this hot dog man? Catch the next vendor.

***

Final thoughts: I *knew* there was a reason I hated hot dogs!

"The Demon Butcher of Meat Street." Oddball Albert works evenings as a hot dog vendor but you wouldn't want to purchase anything from him. Dropped sausages are put back on the grill and dirty Albert picks his nose and even masturbates behind the counter! When he needs to excuse himself to go to the bathroom he just pees behind the stall. A sleazy photographer offers him work posing as an unusual model for adult content. When Albert is given a Polaroid camera he embarks on his own photography, several women end up dying for his art! Jon Wachter gives one of those love it or hate performances as Albert, either way it is very memorable. New York City may have cleaned up over the years but this movie is great viewing for lovers of Grindhouse - raw, dark and depraved but also funny in a twisted way. Expect very strong language, violence and nudity which includes a close up of a shaven vagina. Taking into account an obvious low budget, a cast of unknowns and a directional debut the end result is impressive, most definitely not movie for your average Joe but if exploitation cinema is your thing then I highly recommend you BAG yourself a copy, 'cos BOY you might LOVE(r) it!

Bag Boy Lover Boy is... different, and fairly unique. I like different. I like to be surprised. Much of this lies in exactly how much of an oddball the lead character, Albert (Jon Wachter) is, but the story, situations, actions, and colorful cast veer the whole movie into a different and intriguing territory. Always a plus when something unique has a clear narrative (anyone can do a surreal, self-indulgent art flick). This definitely qualifies as a dark comedy with horror elements, if you're into that sort of thing.

Albert works at a hot dog stand in New York City, but dreams of being a photographer. He is "discovered" by a pompous art snob named Ivan (Theodore Bouloukos), who offers him a modeling gig, strictly to exploit Albert's freakish persona. Albert accepts the gig, hoping to learn the ropes of photography from Ivan. These photo sessions are, I dunno how to put this, eccentric? Ivan gives Albert a Polaroid, then promptly splits for a job in Italy, so Albert starts to... explore. And his sessions, with prostitutes, drunks, a flirtatious friend, get even more bizarre... and deadly.

Seems like Albert's freakish charm is a hit with the ladies, only he wants absolutely nothing to do with them (seemingly happy to just masturbate to dirty photos). No, he has taken his inspiration from one of Ivan's sessions, in which he really lives up to the moniker "bag boy."

I can really only fault this movie with its brevity (77 minutes). I don't know if a low budget factored into this (the movie looks great, anyway), but I felt a lot of avenues went unexplored, or could have been explored further, characters more fleshed out. Certainly, more screen time from this cast of characters would not be unwelcome. The ending is abrupt, but I did really enjoy the ensuing resolution. I'd love to see a sequel, but, well, that ain't happening.

Bag Boy Lover Boy follows Albert a lonely guy who works at a hotdog stand, lives in a crappy run-down apartment and just looks at the pin-ups on his walls and wonders what life has to offer him. One day Albert is approached by a photographer who is strangely inspired by Albert's thick accent and grotesque face. The photographer, Ivan, offers Albert a job modeling for him but Albert doesn't want to model, he wants to photograph. When he is given the opportunity to use the skills Ivan inadvertently taught him Albert goes down a very dark path. It's a shame that it took 3 years for this film to hit home media cause this film, despite some performances and the low budget, is kind of great. I felt the writing was really solid all around and all the actors at least tried to give a good performance. The lead gives a really good performance which helps to make Albert a very sympathetic character. I think the film was very well paced and never really boring I didn't have any real problems with the film, I think its also very interesting it has that gritty grimy New York look that Taxi Driver or Maniac has. The film even has some really good gross-out humor similar to some of John Waters early works and psychosexual tones reminiscent of Buio Omega. Its a film I would highly recommend to fans of cult films and John Waters early low budget stuff. If you don't like cult films and can't stand weird sexual elements and gross humor do not see this film.

I watched this film expecting it to be a cheapo indie slasher film, but I was exceptionally impressed by the production values and especially by the perfomance of Theodore Bouloukos as Ivan, the sleazy career-minded photographer, Theodore played the role brilliantly, giving a performance that put me in mind of a sort of mixture between Stanley Tucci's Jack Warner in FX's "Feud: Bette & Joan" and William Petersen's Gil Grissom from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". The overall story of "Bag Boy Lover Boy" is an urban drama-cum-thriller in the vein of Michael Powell's classic film "Peeping Tom", presenting us with the tragically lonesome character Albert (played beautofully by Jon Wachter), wanting to further his creative prospects as a studio photographer, but with a kinky sort of death-fetish tie-in. Andres Torres certainly pulled out all the stops with this movie and I will be eagerly looking out for any of his future titles, especialy if they are as good as "Bag Boy Lover Boy".