"I can never tell where one torture ends and the other begins."
Extremely depressing parable of human misery, poverty, and drug addiction on the rotted, deteriorating streets of Staten Island where we follow a day in the life of a deeply troubled Vietnam vet who may or may not have slaughtered an entire village during that conflict and how such horrifying memories torment him. The urban squalor and his own life's difficulties(..finding a job, being evicted, dealing with a pushy, constantly bitching wife, a hungry handicapped infant, owing money to drug- pushers) resemble the nightmarish terrors of his past in the war. His descent into madness will more than likely leave you truly unsettled and repulsed, it's not a pretty picture at all. Ricky Giovinazzo, as the vet who roams throughout the decaying filthy streets, is unforgettable in the lead. Director Buddy Giovinazzo paints a very distressing, uncompromising portrait of an urban hell where the undesirables wander in an aimless, squalid existence thanks to a country that has abandoned them. The final ten or so minutes, once Ricky G uses a stolen gun that had fallen from a woman's purse he had lifted(..she had stolen it from a dead junkie), will probably, unless you have an incredible tolerance for disturbing behavior, stun even the most hardened viewer into silence. The added Vietnam war footage(..proposed by Team Troma producers Kaufman and Herz)actually enhances the film, I think.
A definite word of warning, the film's final minutes contain brutal acts of truly destructive violence of an unpleasant nature. Besides the final scene, there's a very troubling sequence where a sick junkie, unable to find specific drug paraphernalia, opens a sore on his arm with an extended coat hanger so he can pour heroine into his system for a fix. The film features Ricky G meeting such people as a young girl being used by a pimp as a hooker(..this scumbag is the type who orders them around, often resorting to slapping among other acts of violence to keep his girls in line), and a drug-pusher with two thugs who abuse junkies for kicks(..what happens to these foul miscreants will probably be met with applause).The grit, grime, graffiti and garbage of the unflattering Staten Island locations chosen for the film leave a lasting impression of hopelessness and dispair. The diseased baby(..a victim of Ricky G's effects from Agent Orange)is truly a haunting creation(..it's whining especially grating) and the squibs used when the gun violence erupts(..not to mention the bloody carnage of torn apart corpses in the Vietnam scenes)are quite impressive considering the very miniscule budget.
Extremely depressing parable of human misery, poverty, and drug addiction on the rotted, deteriorating streets of Staten Island where we follow a day in the life of a deeply troubled Vietnam vet who may or may not have slaughtered an entire village during that conflict and how such horrifying memories torment him. The urban squalor and his own life's difficulties(..finding a job, being evicted, dealing with a pushy, constantly bitching wife, a hungry handicapped infant, owing money to drug- pushers) resemble the nightmarish terrors of his past in the war. His descent into madness will more than likely leave you truly unsettled and repulsed, it's not a pretty picture at all. Ricky Giovinazzo, as the vet who roams throughout the decaying filthy streets, is unforgettable in the lead. Director Buddy Giovinazzo paints a very distressing, uncompromising portrait of an urban hell where the undesirables wander in an aimless, squalid existence thanks to a country that has abandoned them. The final ten or so minutes, once Ricky G uses a stolen gun that had fallen from a woman's purse he had lifted(..she had stolen it from a dead junkie), will probably, unless you have an incredible tolerance for disturbing behavior, stun even the most hardened viewer into silence. The added Vietnam war footage(..proposed by Team Troma producers Kaufman and Herz)actually enhances the film, I think.
A definite word of warning, the film's final minutes contain brutal acts of truly destructive violence of an unpleasant nature. Besides the final scene, there's a very troubling sequence where a sick junkie, unable to find specific drug paraphernalia, opens a sore on his arm with an extended coat hanger so he can pour heroine into his system for a fix. The film features Ricky G meeting such people as a young girl being used by a pimp as a hooker(..this scumbag is the type who orders them around, often resorting to slapping among other acts of violence to keep his girls in line), and a drug-pusher with two thugs who abuse junkies for kicks(..what happens to these foul miscreants will probably be met with applause).The grit, grime, graffiti and garbage of the unflattering Staten Island locations chosen for the film leave a lasting impression of hopelessness and dispair. The diseased baby(..a victim of Ricky G's effects from Agent Orange)is truly a haunting creation(..it's whining especially grating) and the squibs used when the gun violence erupts(..not to mention the bloody carnage of torn apart corpses in the Vietnam scenes)are quite impressive considering the very miniscule budget.