Customer Reviews

Lunatics a Love Story [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How can you not like a film presented by Evil Dead's Sam Raimi starring Ted Raimi and Deborah Foreman and has Bruce Campbell being... well Bruce Campbell? You can't! T. Raimi is an apartment bound hallucinating-paranoid-delusional poet teetering on the edge of serial killer, when his path crosses with the oh-so cute but crazy in her own right D. Foreman. This, for lack of a better word, "charming" love story is absolutely looney yet extremely compelling. Together the two end up sorta-solveing their problems and saving each other from street gangs, sadistic doctors (Bruce Campbell in a perfectly cast role), and spiders along the way. A definate for any fan of cheese. Loads of Lunacy and a damn funny movie ta' boot- but then would Raimi have his name on anything but?

This has really turned into a cult classic movie. I have to admit that this film was pretty fun to work on. I was one of a few Grips on the project. We all worked some long hours, but we had a great crew. It was really cool to meet Deborah Foreman, as I have always been a fan of hers from some of her past films. But back to the movie; it has kind of a corny storyline, but it still is worth watching at 4:30 AM when you can't sleep and you are fresh out of Valuim ... (smile). I wish they would release this movie on DVD ... (hint, hint). So if you haven't watched this film, rent it or buy it. Almost the whole crew was hired from the Detroit, Michigan area. Watch the film credits for everybodys names.
Cya, Bill Netter

I saw this film at the release party, at the Magic Bag in Ferndale... it was on cable, and I'd love to own a DVD of it, too! Wonderful, black-comedy / sweet and sappy love story, good acting, I'd say it's #1 at the top of my list of best independent films made in the US in the last 20 years.

I'd been looking forward to seeing this movie for months before it caught my vision at a local rental store (with a wonderful selection of hard-to-find movies and anime) and I sqeauled with delight. I'm a devoted fan of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell & Josh Becker fan (Theo Raimi is okay too) so it was natural for me to want to see it, plus it sounded entertaining. Anyway, it definately was entertaining! This is probably the most "charming" movie I've ever been proud to add to my favorite movies list. Theo(dore Raimi) was actually really good in this, it's amazing that Joxer is so incredibly annoying (his character on Xena:WP) and Hank is so amusing. The cinemetography was great, it was almost like a more subtle version of Sam's style. The incorporation of the whole poetry thing was awesome! I was rolling on the floor with laughter when I saw that yes, John Cameron played Edgar Allen Poe. Not many people can claim that honor!

I highly reccomend this movie to fans of it's makers or pretty much anyone. It's inventive, stylish, funny and very good-hearted. It's like Crimewave meets romantic comedies.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and in my opinion, one of the spiffiest movies ever made. That being said, I think most people (like my mother) might be very bored. It's very off-the-wall, and at several points, rather slow-moving. This is not an action-packed movie, with many scenes involving only one or two people at a time, though there are some chase scenes and fights (Ted Raimi dressed in tin foil and armed with a baseball bat is an image that will live happily in my brain forever). The plot revolves around a young man, named Hank Stone, who has some serious issues: he's afraid to go outside his apartment, covers the walls in foil, and tends to have very violent hallucinations (including Bruce Campbell as a surgeon who wants to either cut his head open or inject him with "red fluid"). He winds up meeting a girl named Nancy, who's convinced everything she touches is cursed and doomed (she actually has several good reasons for thinking this, though). They must both overcome their own problems to help each other. The plot itself is fairly simple, in a boy-meets-girl sort of way. However, the main draw of this movie, for me, is the sheer awesome-ness that is Ted Raimi. In one of his very few starring roles, he pulls off a variety of bizarre stunts and spazzes that I can't imagine anyone else being able to get away with (like trying to strangle himself). He manages to be quite convincingly mentally disturbed, while at the same time maintaining an innocence and endearing sweetness that make you want him to succeed. If you are a fan of any of the main actors (Bruce Campbell does double duty as a hallucination and Nacy's jerk of an ex-boyfriend), you will be more inclined to like this movie. Also, if you just want to see Ted Raimi beat himself senseless (or conversely, see him get revenge on Bruce Campbell for beating him up in Evil Dead II), you'll probably be amused there, too. I have to say that this is the only movie I have ever watched where I actually repeatedly cheered on the main character out loud; it's just that spiffy.

I am just letting you know that the rating only applies if you are, like me, a fan of low budget movies. If you enjoy large extravagant chase scenes with explosions, you have tumbled onto the wrong page. If you feel otherwise, read on.

Ted Raimi stars in Lunatics, which is based mostly in a grungy apartment that Ted aka. Hank, has covered in tin foil. Throughout the film, you fall in love with Hank's neurosis as well as his outlook on the outside world. With Bruce Campbell (everyone's favorite "B" movie actor) playing multiple roles as both a male chauvinist pig and an eccentric doctor, this movie is overall a perfect example of how you don't need a big budget to make a movie that is well done and has creative lead characters.

The most impressive part of the movie is defiantly Ted and how surprisingly well he plays someone going completely out of his mind (not that I had any doubt in his acting ability to begin with) and Deborah Foreman holds down her role effectively countering Raimi's performance . For fans of the underground movie circuit, John Cameron playing Edgar Allan Poe is a guilty pleasure. Overall, I believe that this movie is well done but may not be appreciated by all.

A hard to find film, that I wish they would release on DVD with extras.

The first film with Ted as the lead. Too bad we don't get to see Ted as a leading character more often.

This film is a classic and a must for fans of Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell.

It lives up to the fun, sweet, crazy, schmultzy cheese that is expected in a film with the names Raimi and Campbell in the credits.

I love this movie, one of Ted Raimi's best. It's just crazy! This needs a DVD release pronto!

"Xena" star Ted Raimi (Sam's brother) plays Hank Stone, a formerly institutionalized mental case who (when off his medication) suffers from rather nasty hallucinations and has a phobia that he will be attacked if he ventures outside his apartment. Sort of "Repulsion" (1966) meets "The Secret Lives of Dentists" (2002). It is titled a romance and is inaccurately billed as a comedy.

When he is not dealing with the imaginary spiders creeping around it his brain, the rappers that appear when he plays music, the "hot" billboard girl who seduces him, and the mad doctors prodding him with needles; Hank finds the time to feel lonely and impulsively invites an unseen girl he has dialed on the phone to come up and see him sometime.

The girl turns out to be Nancy, a neurotic but squeaky-clean damsel in distress (she has p....d off a local street gang). Hank is extremely pleased when Nancy arrives (not surprising as she is played by Deborah Foreman-arguably the most beautiful of all the young Hollywood actresses of the 1980's). This was one of Foreman's last films, she wasn't getting quality stuff and had begun to fade a tiny bit physically; director Josh Becker unnecessarily compensates for this by limiting her extreme close-ups.

Hank and Nancy discover they share both an interest in poetry and a tendency to lash out violently at each other during moments of mental disturbance. But Hank's love for Nancy will inspire him to face his demons and venture into the world to save her.

Josh Becker wrote and directed the film, not Sam Raimi of "Evil Dead" fame. Raimi produced the film and Becker was one of his close associates, which may account for the confusion.

The low budget special effects are actually an asset as they give a unity to the expressionistic feel of the film; as does the wonky jazz score.

While some viewers really connect with this film, mainstream viewers will be either bored or irritated. Bored because this is a minimalist movie in which what little happens does so in an unconvincing manner and without a build-up of suspense or real tension.

Irritating because the story is structured wrong. It is supposed to be a romance yet the characters do not meet until minute 42 of the 87 minutes running length. They are only together on the screen for about 20% of the film. This also means that the story must be told from two separate points of view, which distances the viewer and makes it necessary to expend a lot of energy achieving a strong identification with either character.

Nonetheless, there is a lot of originality here and the overall viewing experience is a pleasant one.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I saw this film at the release party, at the Magic Bag in Ferndale... it was on cable, and I'd love to own a DVD of it, too! Wonderful, black-comedy / sweet and sappy love story, good acting, I'd say it's #1 at the top of my list of best independent films made in the US in the last 20 years.