Posted: 06/27/2004

Acne

(2003)

by E. Bert Rogers

Available from Facets Video.

They have zits on their head with fully bursting and oozing puss! In this wildly bizarre feature film, director Rusty Nails gives us a fully punk influenced horror/sci-fi, black and white, B-movie, about teenagers and their acne problem. However, their acne problem is a lot more complicated than we all endured, unless you’re that kid who sat behind me in Driver’s Ed. Now that kid had acne growing on his acne! The teens in Rusty Nails’ Acne are mutated into acne heads.

The main characters, Franny (Tracy Hayes), and her brother, Zoe (Rusty Nails), wake up one morning before a class trip and prepare their day as any other. Unexpectedly, some weird ooze contaminates their drinking water and the teens find themselves infected with a giant zit on each of their heads. They then develop strange feeding habits and blackout at times. Instead of going on their class trip, the teens embark on a mission to find out what happened to them. While on the way, they meet other zit head teens. Several obstacles develop on Franny’s and Zoe’s journey as a chocolate producing corporation and the Army stand in their way from discovering the truth behind their grotesque zit heads.

Rusty presents a tongue-in-cheek horror flick that is light on the scares, but heavier on the laughs. The low-budget, obviously cheesy, special effects are classic and charming. My favorite scene is Zoe in the washroom with his growing and bursting zit head.

Along on the DVD are several of Rusty’s short films, a music video for punk band Tilt and a trailer for Blood Drinkers. After viewing Acne, all I have to say is “Ed Wood, eat your heart out.”

E. Bert Rogers is an officially licensed zit popper and toenail clipper as well as film reviewer for Film Monthly.

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