Sleeper Awakened

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THE SPECIAL (2020)

10/20/20 - The Special (2020) - 3+/10

Okay. I think I have found my bizarre and gross horror film for the year. It wasn’t quite as sleazy or sick as I had hoped. I was looking for a Society, Teeth, or Cabin Fever based on the art, but it was not ambitious enough to truly push the boundaries of decency and taste. That said, it did ooze some of the cinematic sin that was promised that is promised when the MacGuffin of a film is a box with a hole in it that says “Stick in here”.

It hovers around b movie territory for most of its runtime, with some clunky dialogue, intermittently reliable performances, and clunky pacing. The sexual politics and investment in detailed and dynamic characters & story is predictably lacking. But, what would one expect from Spoilers: a movie about a mysterious box that men put their penises in for a great time. The “special box” is too good for our protagonist to leave alone and he becomes obsessed with it, at the sacrifice of everything else. Not amazing with that, but there is a titillation and gooey macabre to the conceit. The glory of the hole is the mystery behind what is on the other side, and to stick the most precious and tender extension of oneself into the abyss presents a natural chilling hesitancy. But, as any of the best horror fables go: never stick your dick in there.

Of course things go awry but it takes too long to get there. It allows for a lag in the middle that sucks out the gusto of the slippery surprise and possible dread. A good 15-20 minutes could have been excised for a tighter cohesive whole. When it is finally revealed what is to happen, it is too truncated. The disgusting end of this tale could have used more breathing room, especially to display the quite good gore effects. These The Fly inspired mutations deserved more screen time with their gelatinous pulsating promises, for they were the highlight of the feature.

I won’t tell you what is in that wooden cube and I can’t say that the film was good. But the concept was odd, gross and twisted enough to pull me in. I’m not sure The Special is worth it, but you’ll never know what you're missing until you put yourself in that hole...cinematically speaking.