Customer Reviews

Rapturious

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

 

 

Let me be frank. I don't like rap. Why did I buy this film then? I wanted to see John Bloom (a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs) as a psychiatrist. Interestingly, while the music was about what I expected, Bloom, the famous and revered B-movie critic turned in one of the weaker performances here. The big surprise was the strength of Robert Oppel as gritty addict and rapper "Rapturious." Billed as "Hip-hop meets horror," I expected a low grade exploitation film, and while that element is there, there are some effective elements here, largely cemented by Oppel's performance which is genuinely creepy to watch. I wavered between a two and three star review, because there are some good points here, but I had to go with two overall as the script was frequently numbing (an excess reliance on pointlessly repetitive cursing, boring circular conversations that didn't further the plot, the unnecessarily lengthy old west prologue, etc.) and much of the acting was poor. Easily the worst performance is from Troma veteran Debbie Rochon, whose performance is both central to the story and wooden. Every time she was onscreen I was just waiting for the scene to be done, which was the effect I was expecting Oppel to have. Having been a long time follower of Bloom, I was expecting him to be better in his B-movie performance, but he was also made of oak, especially in the beginning. Interestingly, Bloom started out really stilted, but by the conclusion was seemingly more comfortable and was more enjoyable. I'm unsure if that was because they shot in sequence and Bloom grew into the role, or if I was just more interested in the story at the end. Also watch for the nuanced performance of Frduah Boateng as Freddie Bop.

The story itself adds some interesting new wrinkles in the horror-rap genre, beginning long ago with some Navajo narration. Since this was all pre-credit and grew quite lengthy, I was seriously wondering if I had the wrong DVD. Turns out, it's relevant, though it'll take about half the movie to figure that out. An infamous old west outlaw, "Dead-Eye Pete" (the seriously creepy Jim Fletcher) is hanged while under the mystical observation of a shaman of some sort. The movie then snaps your neck with a cut to modern New York where a drug deal goes down in an urban bar. Rapturious needs stronger stuff, so his pusher sells him some new stuff called "Afterlife." (You just know where that's going.) To provide background, Rapturious then proceeds to possibly the worst interview ever (minus one scriptwriting star for this scene alone) where we learn about Rapturious' dead father, how his mom put him up for adoption, the fact that he's mentally unstable, etc. I also issue a bad poetry alert for the free verse Rapturious lays down in the dramatic conclusion to this unfortunate and inconsequential scene.

Afterlife proves to be a very potent drug with unusual side effects. After first taking it, Rapturious has some terrible flashbacks to mayhem of the past; it terrifies him (though some of the special effects aren't very special at all) and leaves him confused and frightened. Despite all this, Rapturious keeps using it, and eventually goes to see his dealer for more. (An aside: the most entertaining part of the film is what's on the TV at the dealer's apartment.) Rapturious keeps having increasingly nasty flashbacks that are fairly deftly handled by director Kamal Ahmed: they start murky and vague, but increasingly confuse what is real and imagined. Unfortunately they also involve gratuitous and wholly unnecessary intestine eating.

As Rapturious is increasingly influenced by the drug, a bizarre chain of events leads to him seeking treatment. Ahmed proves he's a better director than writer once again during another scene that utterly fails to further the plot, this time in a bar. Rapturious and friends are minding their own business when another rapper with an attitude (Tim "Single" Braddock) picks a ridiculous fight with rhyme. I don't know how well Braddock can rap outside this film, but here he spins a convoluted tale about his grandmother dying, in which he rhymes "Forrest Gump" with "slump;" what ensues is one of the most ridiculous bar fights ever. After all this Rapturious gets involved with a (completely unrealistic) suicide wholly lacking motivation. (Or does he?) He is a smart guy and realizes he needs help, so he covertly seeks psychiatric counseling.

The shrink he goes to is none other than Joe Bob Briggs himself, as Dr. Gabriel (a nice touch in a good versus evil movie.) Gabriel hypnotizes him and Rapturious recalls a horrifying past life including his past execution as Dead-Eye. (Who could have foreseen that?) This procedure involves lots of ugly things and cheesy rubber masks, but finally gets to the crux of the matter for the film's plot. Satan's Chief Operating Officer, a demon named "Marchosias" (who the commentary reveals is played by a very famous actor who did not wish to be identified according to Ahmed) terrifies Dead-Eye who turns tail and runs and is later shot through a birth canal and is manifested in Rapturious. Somehow. Gabriel tells Rapturious "All you'd have to do is just give someone the authority to take your soul..." to perform the "depossession releasement" and then when the threat is gone, you could have your soul back! What could possibly go wrong? Rapturious gives Joe Bob...err...I mean Dr. Gabriel, permission to take his soul. Psych! This scene was fairly well played by Bloom, and was one of the strongest in the film.

Mayhem ensues: there's some really terrible emoting from Rochon, a murderous rampage, some amateur theatrics, some enhanced interrogation techniques, and a rat poison assault. All of which leads Rapturious to a mental institution where he's reunited with Gabriel once again. (What sort of mental institution has acres of plate glass windows?) Dr. Gabriel diagnoses schizophrenic hallucinations, and releases him into the care of his manager and lawyer. (Really? This is what happens to crazy murder suspects?) There is a very nice element to Rapturious signing the release documents, and some identity confusion about Gabriel that wraps (raps?) up the movie in a more intriguing way than expected.

The film will probably play better to fans of hip-hop. It's not boring and it does have some nice elements including some really great acting, unfortunately these are overshadowed by some really bad acting, pointless scenes, and a screenplay that could have used some editing. The DVD comes with a commentary from Ahmed that is frequently tedious, and one of the worst behind the scenes features I have ever watched.