Jesus, I guess some guys haven’t heard the term – “There are other fish in the sea.”
Having recently lost the seemingly love of his life, shoegazer Daniel attempts to drown his sorrows with an unhealthy mixture of over-the-counter pills and tussin, but winds up scrambling his brains instead. Flying high on Robo, Daniel lands himself smack dab in the middle of a hallucinatory hell filled with murderous spirits. And he’s kind enough to reach back and drag us into hell with him.
Fans of experimental cinema will squirt themselves as “Pop Skull” is a slice of heavenly arthouse goodness. Daniel’s medicated nightmare is the perfect platform for filmmaker Adam Wingard to kick out the jams and make his shoestring budget look like a million bucks. Stylized camerawork, a creepy soundtrack, and seizure-inducing strobe effects and editing go a long way to reproduce the plight of the Robitussin tripper with a broken heart.
However, those looking for your average every day horror movie with a plain jane linear storyline will more than likely walk away from this one a little frustrated. “Pop Skull” is a rather uneventful movie with the bulk of its running time dedicated to Daniel’s psychosis. There’s a lot of aimless wandering about, moping and pining which is bound to force another term to come to mind – “Lighten up, Francis!”
But if you can hang in there, reward does await as “Pop Skull” is a unique horror film. In a way, one could say it’s kinda like “Gummo” but without the gay midgets and dead cats.
