Yet another quasi-
autobiography by
John Waters.
Stephen Dorff plays Waters' voice of
rage against mainstream
Hollywood cinema. For Demented, the issue is not that the movies he hates are
bad, but that they are
diluted, and do not inspire the
visceral response that his old heroes
Otto Preminger and
Sam Peckinpah could.
Because of this, it is impossible to judge the movie on the basis of its technical merit. Yes, the lines are hokey. Yes, the special effects are Grade Z (people 'shot' in the head get what looks like some red marzipan stuck to their forehead). Yes, the plot is unbelievable. But despite all these faults, the movie is still ten times more enjoyable than Bless the Child, a slicker, CGI-studded turd that I had just sat through before seeing the movie.
To summarize, John Waters has made a bad movie that is a salute to all the good things about bad movies. And that makes it a good movie. 4 stars if you're a film buff. 3 stars otherwise.