a review of

HOOPTOBER XII NIGHT THREE, BONUS #1: So much of this movie is wrapped up in the contexts of being:

1. A parody/reimagining of Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and its much more gonzo sequel
2. A lowbrow guerilla satire of the cultural politics around German re-unification I'm not sure I have enough grounding in the latter to really have an informed response about the film, beyond looking back at how the world reacted to the fall of Communism when I was growing up. I remember at the time it was treated as a brand new dawn for democracy and humane government; 35 years later and 9 months into a second Trump term, it seems clear that we mistook economic convenience for our own individual and collective liberty, and inadvertently allowed corporations to grind us up into human capital. Whether that's what Christoph Schlingensief was going for with his vision of rabid West German cannibals gobbling up unsuspecting Easterners, I'm not sure I can say, but the metaphor reads even through the off-putting amateurishness of the presentation. Also did not recognize Udo Kier in his crazy flaming wig and greasepaint facial hair until the credits came up at the end. It's kind of the only thing in this that lends it "real-movie" cred versus just being a movie somebody made in their backyard over a weekend.