Lowlife - American Bastards [Blu-ray]

What a dark, exciting movie! Not familiar with any of the cast or crew, this jumped out at me from the first time I saw the trailer. It feels authentic, is brilliantly structured, has great performances and a good mix of gruesomeness, struggle and humour. I can't recommend it enough.

Garbage, sick, not funny, terrible acting, just really poor

Rubbish Film .

This blackly funny, rewardingly grisly, Bukowski-flavoured crime thriller set in the seamier vectors of a vice-corrupted L.A. proved to be a deliriously druggy, surrealistically downbeat surprise! Sinisterly centring upon the outlandishly nefarious activities of slick-haired murderously menacing gangster Teddy 'Bear' Haynes' (Mark Burnham), and his callous trafficking in girls, gruesomely upheld larceny, and ignominious black market organ transplants, a hyperbolic villain so unrepentantly despicable that you simply can't help but secretly admire his asinine criminal chutzpah! This tyrannical, gun-happy lunatic's main enforcer is the charismatically epigrammatic Luchador El Monstruo (Ricardo Adam Zarate), the morally conflicted, fallen son of the legendarily out-sized Mexican defender of the downtrodden proletariat, El Monstruo!Three seemingly disparate tales of increasingly downward spiralling woe which fatefully coalesce in a spectacularly gruesome fashion in this illicitly exhilarating narrative, delivering up some seriously skewed ultra violent catharsis, a bravura B-Movie bacchanal that luridly recalls the more sublimely gonzo elements of maestros Tarantino, Matthew Bright, and the greatly underrated Gregg Araki! At its very best, 'Lowlife' is no less propulsive than a Frank Miller graphic novel, being a deliriously addictive, high-octane kaleidoscopic concoction of compulsive, hyper-real cinematic overkill. The engaging performances, if not always sympathetic, are winningly kinetic, with especially notable work from Ricardo Adam Zarate, and a truly fabulous performance from Nicki Micheaux as the ex-addict 'Crystal' monstrously overwhelmed by the diabolical machinations of the sinister Teddy Haynes. Powerhouse director Ryan Prows thug-thrashingly terrific 'Lowlife' has the devilishly good sense to know when to be subtle, and it never is! Right on!

This is not a bad little pic, but comparisons with Pulp Fiction are ridiculous.The plotting, dialogue and camerawork are not in the same hemisphere as Tarantinos classic.There is also a very lazy and confused ending where everyone turns up to blast each other to bits. Some of the humour is also a bit laboured like they were trying just a bit too hard......especially from the swastika guy.

I've watched about 5 minutes of this movie, and I'm not sure I'll watch much more of it.Now ICE agents are killing illegals for their organs?Hmmmmkay. So that's concentration camps, and human organ theft they're up to these days is it? What next? That they shoot the disabled one's from towers along a wall that isn't there and they keep score?Fear mongering propaganda. I'm already bored of it.

Lowlife is a very weird movie, with a constantly shifting tone that ranges from gut wrenchingly gruesome to laugh out loud funny - sometimes both in the same scene. The characters are striking and memorable, and I love how the seemingly unrelated storylines converge into one coherent whole. Overall, it's a wild ride with a surprisingly sweet heart. Not for people who are put off by extreme violence or dark humour; for everyone else, dive in and enjoy.

Saw this at Frightfest last year and it was the best film I saw. Considering the subject matter it had a surprising heart about it. Gritty and funny, people are saying its Pulp Fiction's successor for good reason, totally recommended