Movie Review: Soft Matter (2018)

Two scientists work in a run down facility performing bizarre experiments that result in half human/half marine life hybrids…all in the name of discovering the secrets of immortality. Into that strangeness step two graffiti artists hoping to make an artistic statement (based on ghosts…). Before long  a Sea-god is walking the Earth, wine and cheese is consumed, and our heroes engage in the fight of their lives…while still managing to make art!
Soft Matter is absolutely batshit insane…in the best possible way a film can be! The whole affair is an unholy amalgamation of Lovecraft, Henenlotter, and the squirrely aesthetics of the shot on video craziness from the late ’80’s (though not featuring their technical ineptitude). There’s the wrong side of the tracks lovable protagonists (played perfectly by Devyn Placide and Ruby Lee Dove II), mad science, monsters, dance numbers, a charming animated sequence featuring a story about a dead turtle, a low-tech puppet show flashback, undead scientists re-animated to offer science advice, a sea-god that lives in a dirty mop bucket…absolutely none of this should work together, but it so fucking does…in the most off-kilter, totally brain melting way possible! Also, on the more sedate side of things, the acting, score, and lighting are great…so there’s that too…
If there is a kinda/sorta negative to be found with Soft Matter it’s that the film is really short…just over seventy minutes. I enjoyed my time in the universe the film makers created so much, that the whole thing went by too fast (although I’m not sure the universe could withstand any more of what this film was laying down)!
Soft Matter is a surreal, fever dream experience of a flick and absolutely should not be missed by anyone that has a chub for Troma, Frank Henenlotter, or psychotronic film making!