Taint

The Taint (2010)

This movie is part comedy and part horror film. Most movies don’t walk that line successfully, but The Taint does. Much of the comedy comes from the plot. Our main character, Phil O’Ginny, is messing around with a girl in a shack when a crazed farmer attacks them. The farmer has his “equipment” out and is spewing seed all over the place. The story is then laid out bit by bit as Phil continues to meet up with different characters. Basically a scientist is developing a male enhancement drug that has the side effect of making men into misogynistic assholes that want to torture and kill all the women they can find. Each of the crazed men runs around with his junk (thankfully just plastic cocks) oozing the sticky stuff. Toss in some CGI squirrels exploding, a group of uninfected men trying to explain why gang rape is okay now that society has broken down, an abortion at home, and lots of sight gags for an interesting movie.

And this movie really is fun. The Taint is at times pretty funny, especially the Phil character. The character is played as a bit of an idiot. For the longest time he sort of stumbles (both literally and figuratively) thru the movie. Even when he does figure something out or tries to be heroic he fails miserably. A good example of this is when he gets his ass kicked fighting the gang leader, who also happens to be his ex gym teacher. This character could have been written and played annoyingly, but the director/writer/actor Drew Bolduc is perfect. Even the silly gag with him switching sunglasses constantly when delivering a dramatic line works.

While being funny the movie also at times switches gears and gets a bit more serious about the story and characters. This is especially so at the end when I thought that it got pretty serious about what was going on. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that the Phil character goes thru a bit at the end and his eventual fate is kind of left hanging. Though I think it is obvious what happens to him enough is left up in the air as to create some doubt. Again and again when I’ve reviewed low budget movies I’ve said that the one thing that you don’t need money for is a thoughtful and interesting script. As a writer Drew Bolduc has given us that with the Taint.

Almost as impressive as the solid story and characters are the technical bits of the movie. First up the special effects are crazy in both quality and volume. I have no idea how they managed to create this many effects shots, but they look great. There are several good practical effects that work well. Even the CGI stuff is shot and cut in such a way that it doesn’t look too bad. The camera work, lighting, and sound are also top notch.

Here is one of those rare independent movies that delivers the goods. There is quality in the writing, acting, directing, camera work, and effects. I really am blow away by this one. I highly recommend The Taint to fans looking for an independent movie to support. Check out there website at http://www.taintmovie.com/ to see how you can get the movie.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer