Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I love this phase of Stuart Gordon's career. I think he's become one of the most interesting of the MASTERS OF HORROR guys. I love EDMOND. I think KING OF THE ANTS and DAGON are fascinating. I think Gordon's theatrical background has become more evident the longer he's worked in film, and I mean that in a good way. He's adventurous. He's still taking chances, and that's great to see:
Hi Moriarty, a few weeks ago I attended the world premiere of Stuart Gordon´s latest „Stuck“ at the FantasyFilmFest (FFF)in Hamburg/Germany. Since I couldn´t find anything about this film on your site I thought I might as well drop a few lines. The organizers of the FFF told us, that they bought the rights to show the film, but the producers afterwards backed up, because they apparently wanted the film to premiere in Toronto. Stuart Gordon himself then stood up for the german FFF since he really likes this event. His films are shown regularly and he has been a guest a few times (and signed my onesheet of SpaceTruckers). As you might have guessed from the SpaceTruckers onesheet I am a big fan of Gordon´s work. Have seen all of his films many times and can enjoy even the worst of them (CastleFreak, anyone?) But now about STUCK: Stephen Rea plays Tom. Tom just became homeless and due to burocratical bullshit he lost his qualifications to wellfare money. So he seeks a place to sleep and gets thrown out of the park by the police. Just when he thinks, that his life couldn´t get any worse, he is hit by a car… Mena Suvari is Brandi. She works in an old folks home and is well liked by the people she takes care of and her colleagues. Her boss even offers her a promotion. She has everything she could wish for, so she celebrates the night, gets drunk and swallows some pills from her drugdealing lover. On the ride home, she hits Tom. Tom crashes through her windshield and gets stuck there (hence the title). She panics and loses her mind over the situation. She is too terrified to drive to a hospital, since she doesn´t want trouble, which she thinks might cost her the promotion. So she hides the car with the deadlooking bum in her garage and pretends nothing happened. But soon after that she finds out, that Tom is still alive and what follows is a quite bizarre fight between the two of them. Tom begs her to call an ambulance or at least to just help him out, he promises to tell nobody about her, but she doesn´t believe him. In one bizarre moment, she even asks the man, who is lying on/in her car with his broken legs and smashed face, "Why are you doing this to me?!" While Tom tries everything to get out of the garage, Brandi comes to the decision, that she has to get rid of the man in her garage by all means. I won´t spoil the rest of the film. Even if the film mostly takes place in the garage there happens so much and the suspense just won´t end. Gordon took this mean "little" story, which is basically a three person play and put so many twists and surprises into it, that you will want to watch it again, as soon as it ended. Tom´s fight for survival becomes even more gruesome, when you realize, that the film is based on real events. Fans of Stuart Gordon might wonder, if there is any gore in the movie. Well, while Tom tries to escape from his prison, there are some scenes showing him dealing with his injuries, that are really really painful to watch. This is no overthetop reanimatorsplatter, this is godawful real pain this man lives through and it is played out long and nasty. Stephen Rea plays Tom with a nice subtlety. He suffered some setbacks, but at least tries to keep his dignity. And this is the worst thing for him, that the girl takes his humanity from him and treats him like an animal. Mena Suvari tends to overact every now and then in the film (as does her macho, wannabegangsta boyfriend in the comic relief scenes), but ends up as a believable overstrained young women that just keeps making incomprehensible and absurd decisions, which only make sense in her little world. The whole audience loved the movie and applauded plenty. This is not as gritty as KING OF THE ANTS or as heavy as EDMOND. It is a mean character-based thriller and as suspenseful as entertaining. I highly recommend to check this film out, as soon, as you have the chance to. You won´t regret it. Jens
