Final Cut

Chip Flanagan thankfully gave up the acting gig and became a very successful, respected, and incredible Chef in New Orleans. He actually traveled to many different countries to hone his culinary skills. I worked for him when I was in culinary school and he was a cool guy (until you got weeded, or messed up an order lol) with a quirky sense of humor but every one of his employees respected the hell out of him. He works at a famous New Orleans restaurant called Ralph's on the Park. There are plenty of videos of him online appearing on local television and giving cooking demonstrations. His theater background I guess did help out because he is completely comfortable in front of the camera and jokes often with the broadcasters. Funnily enough he used used to joke with us that he was in this early nineties B movie but wouldn't tell us the name of it until we graduated culinary school lol. Oddly enough though he went to school and is friends with all the Reno 911 crew.

I have seen this film about five times now and all I can say is WOW!!! This movie makes me want to take out my eye balls and stomp them. The audio is horrible, the acting is horrible and the story is horrible. With this being said I think that it was the most entertaining movie of all time. My friends and I watch and laugh our asses off. The main actor has scenes where he has to smoke a cig and you can tell the actor is repulsed because he is trying his hardest to pucker up his mouth and keep the smoke out. I wish there was more info around for this movie but being that the DVD was sold to me in pathmark for ninty five cents I am assuming that there's not much interest in it.

For some reason this movie kind of works for me. Over the years I've developed something of a short fuse with cheap, independent films and when I start to see crap where they are wasting time (and my patience) on stuff like the meandering (and nonsensical) hitch-hiking scene, I about had my finger on the fast-forward button and was ready to write this one off. The dialogue on this movie is ridiculous (how many times can the fat dude say "kid"?), the main character (who looks like a hybrid of Tracy Lords era Tom Byron and a contemporary Rachel Maddow) has the gullibility and street smarts of a toddler, all attempts at humor fall flat, no one can act their way out of a paper bag, and all the while you pretty much know how things are going to wind up in the end. So why do I like it? Well, it's pure crap but it's stupid and weird enough to provide an almost surreal viewing experience. I actually like the bit where fat guy shoots his mom in the stomach (love the special effects!) and then she just goes back to washing the dishes--you don't see that sort of scene too often! Audio appears to be dubbed in many of the scenes, which adds another layer of crapulence to the affair, making every word of stilted dialogue seem that much more unnatural and ridiculous. Of course, I can see why most people would hate a movie like this but, if you like bad movies as much as I do, this one is a cut above or is at least worth looking into.

Final Cut is a 1993 Thriller directed and written by Chris Lechler. It stars Chip Flanagan as Lance, a young man who has recently lost his father. Upset and confused, he leaves home to start work on a documentary of his travels as a hitch hiker. After sleeping next to a dead skunk on the side of the road, he meets a guy named Buck, who's about to start work on a film based on Lance's favorite book, "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. But things are not always as they seem.....

I really don't know how to put this film into words but it's pretty dull and half of the time it really can't decide where it's going. It's half a "coming of age film", half "city slicker noir", half "horror/slasher movie", and half "snuff film". When you start mildly enjoying one section, it drunkenly swerves into another, which hurts an otherwise moderately entertaining film.

Expect plenty of "tomato juice" blood.

through your viewing of this film, you might ask yourself why it is credited as a horror film. The fact is, it is'nt really much of a horror film, more along the lines of a realistic murderer drama. The film is about a young hitchhiker with aspirations of being an actor, who is picked up by an overweight man who tells him he's an independent filmmaker. When they get to his home in new Orleans, the young actor discovers that his obese friend makes snuff films, & he's his next actor. Now, you might wonder why I can tolerate this film at all, I do so because I see potential in the idea, if not the film itself. It could have been better, but was'nt. However, the ending was sort of disturbing, but I won't ruin it for you. Al in all, I'd say it's a worthwhile film to see at least once.