The Weirdo (1989)

This is the weirdest feeling movie I've ever seen. It's like Tim & Eric without the cynicism. A few questions:-Why are there 30 year-old bullies? -Why does nothing ever come of the gaping knife wound to Donnie's ribs? -Why did the director leave it open for a sequel? -Which fu**ing universe did this movie drag me to, and will I ever return?Man. If I had to give this a genre it would be Smut-Comedy. There has never been a more original movie. Most movies borrow elements from previous features, but I can't think of a single movie that this reminds me of. I hadn't seen this since grade school, I'm now 25 and just bought a copy on VHS for $20. I still find the same parts hilarious, but I have a certain amount of respect for the total strangeness of The Weirdo than I did back then. BUY THIS MOVIE. While you're at it, burn down your house and kill yourself. You'll thank me later... depending, of course, on if you actually kill yourself.. in which case you couldn't thank me. Just buy the fu&^ing movie at any cost.

If this seems a lot different from the rest of Milligan's sparse 80s output, it's because this is actually a remake of a mid-70s Milligan film that was lost. In many ways it is the ultimate Milligan film, undone by the same elements that did in Milligan's last few films: the gritty, sleazy ensembles of "The Ghastly Ones" and "Fleshpot on 42nd Street" are replaced by bland actors from the fringes of respectable Hollywood. Beyond that the crazy, manic energy of Milligan's early films, the screaming actors, traumatic camera-work, and canned background music are long gone, replaced by a modicum of "professionalism".Unlike his other 80s films, however, there are lots of early Milligan elements: horrible, evil mothers, sadistic and cruel authority figures, freaks (I guess Donnie's crippled girlfriend counts), and Milligan's own obvious identification with the doomed monster. The weirdo, Donnie, is basically a harmless borderline retard a la Hal Borske in "The Ghastly Ones" who is bullied and humiliated before taking his revenge in an oddly satisfying but shoddy manner. If you've read "The Ghastly One" and actually like some of Milligan's films, parts might strike you as almost touching, since so much of Milligan himself seems to be on display here, but that said the high-school cast, awkward dialog, silly 80s gang, and characters who arbitrarily change at the drop of a plot point don't really help matters. Definitely not "the worst film" ever (none of Milligan's films are even close to that), but too lumbering and leaden for its own good. Too bad the original is "lost", I'd love to see it.

Oh my what to say. It is just another horror movie. Not because it was supposed to be scary but because it gave me nightmares of bad acting. I almost fell asleep while watching this poor excuse for a movie. I just think that sometimes people don't think about what will sell and what won't. Whoever thought this was a seller had to be drinking the night before and came to work with a hang over.

Okay, I'll admit that this film is as bad as the title would suggest, but really, it does manage to have a few good moments. But while I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's "so bad, it's good", I will have to confess that there were times when I laughed because of the overwhelming stupidity. Really, this film has it all: Bad acting, horrible editing, pathetic special effects...but what do you really expect from any film with a LOW budget, right? It's not good by any stretch of the imagination, but it does create enjoyment if you can laugh AT a movie. If you are a person who can enjoy BAD movies, then I think that you'll get a kick out of this...others beware.