The last feature to come out of Andy Warhol’s Factory and
also the least Warholian of them all. In
fact, it bears the influence of John Waters a lot more than any of Warhol’s films
or those of Paul Morrissey that he produced in the late 60s and early 70s. Carroll Baker rents out rooms in her house to
a collection of low-lifes while also running a murder-for-hire business, which
some of her tenants work for. It’s
mostly a series of wry vignettes featuring a cast of bizarre characters played
by (in some cases) even more bizarre character actors, including the always
freaky Susan Tyrell and Warhol veteran Brigid Polk as a woman who wants her
neighbor’s dog killed because she once vaguely had the impression that he
called her fat. The film takes quite a
dark turn as Baker’s crew specializes in taking jobs from people who want their
own children murdered, leading to a crisis of conscious for newcomer Perry King
and the infamous scene where an annoyed mother, tired of waiting for the
assassins to do their job, decides to save a few dollars by tossing her infant
out the window of her high-rise apartment.
As a very black comedy, it has plenty of shocks and laughs to make it
worthwhile, but it lacks the sharpness of intent and the strong central
performances of Waters’ and Morrissey’s best films.
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