Writer/director Joe Begos—whose very own Christmas Bloody Christmas blew the roof off the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival nearly three years ago—returns with his ultra-violent new feature, Jimmy and Stiggs. The first chunk takes place from a strictly first-person perspective as we meet washed up druggie director, Jimmy. Who better to play Jimmy than Begos himself? It’s all a bit preposterous, and that’s well before any of the alien bloodshed even occcurs. A gory, goopy trashterpiece that goes in deeper than an anal probe, Jimmy and Stiggs is a seriously wild ride.
Over a year ago, Jimmy and his collaborative best friend Stiggs (Matt Mercer) parted ways. Without being tethered to his other half, Jimmy has hit the rock bottom of a bottle. Just when it seems like things cannot get any worse for him, Jimmy seemingly gets abducted by aliens. He instantly obsesses over the concept, immersing himself in alien abduction interviews and lore, and a whole rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. At first, it seems that maybe Jimmy actually is just nuts. Erratic quick cuts emphasizes Jimmy’s precarious position, albeit in a style reminiscent of Rob Zombie.
During the first act, we get only brief glimpses at the aliens. One would assume that trend would probably continue throughout the duration, a la M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs. Instead, Begos grants us a window into the world of these freaky creatures by using Jimmy’s apartment as a hub. With huge heads, bulging yellow eyes, and tiny tentacles, these aliens can float, and are seriously nasty. Fountains of blood of different colors quite literally shower the actors in the nasty goods. The aliens and the effects that go with them are entirely practical in nature, setting the table for wildly unhinged kills such as an alien whose head gets smashed open like a rotten jack-o-lantern. The effects are the bread and butter of this movie, and are a true delight to relish in their ickiness.
Once Stiggs shows up, the two realize they may be trapped. Brick walls have mysteriously appeared over every exit and window around Jimmy’s apartment. While literally forcing a lead to relapse in order to prove his solidarity from the aliens screams problematic, Jimmy and Stiggs are a blast to watch together. Getting them to the point where they can just murder ugly aliens over and over as they both get drenched in gallons of blood might have been worth the wait. So what if much of the runtime involves blood spraying everywhere and both men going off on nonsensical tangents?
Begos sprinkles in some genre homages, and this title is definitely the only time a Cannibal Holocaust poster so prominently displays in a movie. This aliens-go-crazy pulpy sci-fi horror still does overstay its welcome at times despite every effort to assault the senses. It can be a little much with all the mania unfolding onscreen to concentrate on an actual story. While that can be summed up as Jimmy convinced he’s been abducted and thus setting out to entrap and kill an alien, that doesn’t make the very idea any less pedestrian. Still, Jimmy and Stiggs is another epic genre effort from Joe Begos.
Unwrap a conspiracy theory with Jimmy and Stiggs from Eli Roth’s production banner, The Horror Section, coming to theaters nationwide on Friday, August 15th.
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