Before I kick of this revoltin’ review, let me state that if you are negatively effected by rapid strobing light and images, you may want to avoid this film.
The basics of Flesh City goes as follows: Vyren (Christian Serritiello) meets Loquette (Eva Ferox) in a Berlin industrial nightclub, get a dude named Cyril (Shaun Lawton) right pissed over a video game, then decide it would be a shit hot idea to explore the club’s basement. Is that what kids are into these days? Weirdos…
Speaking of weird, there is some sort of magic crystal down there that can open a gate… oh and our heroes are menaced by Prof. Yagov (Arthur Patching) and his fuckin’ robot. Vyren takes a powder from all this lunacy, but there is no way he’s gettin’ out of this nuthouse intact; to wit. he’s beginning to mutate, and if Yagov has his way, the entire city will follow suit!
As you may have guessed, Flesh City is weird as all fuckin’ fuck! Trust me cats n’ creeps that business above is implied more than completely spelled out as the narrative for this is fever dream ramblin’ at best, and there is little dialog to help your ass out either.
Adding to the “Oh fuck it” narrative are sporadic interruptions by the show ‘Magical Nihilism’ that plays avant-garde music videos… you know, just in case you were getting too comfy with that storyline.
And me being me, you lot know damn well I absolutely fuckin’ loved every lunatic minute of this!
And while the story really greased my wheels, the practical effects utilized to bring the various mutations to life really made me happier than a putrid pig in sinister shit… just straight up pulsating, creepy-crawling, fleshy nightmares… I salute you make-up artist Alex Costa and animator Kyle Chang for making these terrors come to vivid, throbbing life!
Also of note is the artsy-fartsy flourish of making exteriors black and white, and interiors full of lurid color, it was a beautiful touch and makes the film, already a visual feast thanks to all of the above and some razor-sharp editing, that much more a feast for your eerie eyeballs!
If you can wrap your monstrous mind around the thought of early period Shinya Tsukamoto directing a script written by early period David Cronenberg you’ll get a taste of what Flesh City has to offer… but the outrageous genius of writer/director Thorsten Fleisch makes it so very much more! This is a psychotronic bukkake that absolutely must be experienced by those that dig on pure, uncut demented cinema!
*Flesh City plays Tuesday, September 29th at 9PM as part of the Mr. HoleHead’s Warped Dimension film festival!
