Movie Review: Rottentail

Just in time for Easter is the release of Rottential. A movie about a man who becomes a half man/half bunny after being beaten by a radioactive rabbit. Yes, you read that correctly, and yes this is a movie that knows exactly what it is and never shies away from it, like a modern day Roger Corman film this leans into its absurdity with surprisingly great effect.

Coming from the world of Source Point Press this is based on a graphic novel of the same name. Kurt Belcher, David C. Hayes and Kevin Moyers who created the graphic novel do get writing credits to the film along with director Brian Skiba. Considering the strong connection to the original source material this is a time where the original vision drove the making of the actual film. A vision that is more interested in crafting laughs than scares.

Corin Nemec“s performance is a big part of many of those laughs. He plays double duty as both Peter Cotten and his eventual alter ego Rottentail. As Peter, he is this sheepish down on his luck individual who has been beaten down by everything life has had to offer. Rottentail, however, is like a harden road comic who has given up caring what people think of him. His filter is off as he will say and do whatever he likes to whoever he likes, which of course includes brutal murder. With that attitude in mind, he seeks to take out many of those who have wronged Peter in the past.

Easily the best scene of the film is when Peter is first transforming into Rottentail in the middle of a dinner with his childhood friend and lifelong crush. It was well written and greatly performed by Nemec. They took the typical Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and gave it an interesting twist. A significant component to its success is the work done by the makeup team. Even the hands have this grotesque look to them. Rottentail is true to his name as he looks like roadkill that has been allowed to decay for a few weeks.

There is no confusing this with a major studio blockbuster. This has the indie feel you would get when watching late night premium cable in the late nineties. In a way the lack of polish works in the movies favor. If this were to come out with pristine special effects it would seem like a movie that took itself far too seriously. Instead, we get a puppet that makes no major attempts to be realistic. Where the more indie approach impacted the film was with the actors outside of the main cast. You can tell many were not professional and especially background actors who would overreact to a scene to a distracting level.

As mentioned the main cast was rather solid. Especially William McNamara who plaid the main antagonist of the film Jake Mulligan. Jake was not only was a major bully to Peter as a kid but now is a Preacher using his church and religion to benefit himself and his own interests. (So I guess in some ways this movie was rather realistic) He was the fun kind of evil that revealed in his own smarminess. From his botched baptism that turned into drownings to his abuse of small animals, he was the type of character that you cannot wait to see die in the most gruesome manner. Luckily when it came to providing gruesome deaths this film was happy to oblige.

Although the best jokes may have been some of the quick throwaway lines, like when the Army was called in for an assist and the name Sargent Slater was dropped or Rottentail casually going to play a game of darts after assaulting a bartender for demanding he take off his mask. Similar to the Roger Corman movies it is seemingly influenced by, it takes aim at many different parts of our current society from pharmaceutical to the army and as previously mentioned religion. This is satire in a rather blunt way as there is not much nuance to what is being said, which falls in line with the in your face style of the film.

Bluntness can run stale after a while and that is this film“s greatest weakness. Eventually, after witnessing so much disembowelment you have a case of dimensioning returns. To the film’s credit, it does some inventive things to evolve the concept by the end, and the general revenge story carries through.

Overall Thoughts:

If a movie called Rottential about a man who turns into a wear rabbit that seeks revenge on those who previously wronged him sounds like a movie you would dig you will no doubt like this movie. Bloody, bold, and with a surprising wit this shows the comedy horror genre still has some life left in it.

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Starring:

Corin Nemec (The Stand, Stargate SG-1, Bundy: A Legacy of Evil) stars as Dr. Peter Cotton. Alongside Nemec are co-Stars Dominique Swain and the William McNamara in his most hilarious yet villainous role to date as Pastor Jake Mulligan.

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Daniel Clark

A fan of all things comics. Growing up on a healthy diet of 90's Batman and X-Men cartoon series ignited a love for the medium that remains strong today.