I wouldn't take dad, but...

Very few films shown in Winnipeg theatres get an R rating -- no one under the age of 18 admitted whatsoever -- so assume you will have your sensibilities violated by this locally-shot exploitation comedy from the Winnipeg-based collective Astron-6.

Put it this way: Sensibilities are not the only things that will be violated.

The story of a hunt for a supernaturally-powered dad rapist -- yes, you read that correctly -- Father's Day is informed by the same trash aesthetic as last year's Canuxploitation feature Hobo with a Shotgun. Both were inspired by a mishmash of '80s exploitation movies. Indeed, both first came into the world as bogus movie trailers.

But Father's Day is by far the better film, though completed on a tiny fraction of Hobo's budget. Wipe away all the slime and sleaze, and there is something pure about it. Hobo with a Shotgun was a violent, ugly exercise in cinematic abrasion. Father's Day boasts more creative joy in any given minute than Hobo can muster in its entire running time.

Astron-6 is a collective of five guys: Adam Brooks, Conor Sweeney, Matthew Kennedy, Jeremy Gillespie and Steve Kostanski, and in the cooperative spirit of the collective, three of them star as an oddball posse of avengers. Sporting an eye patch and leather coat, Brooks is Ahab, a would-be vigilante who years earlier began his search for Chris Fuchman (Mackenzie Murdock), the man who killed (and raped ... and cannibalized) his dear old dad. Kennedy is Father Sullivan, a naive priest assigned to find Ahab and urge him to resume his search. Sweeney is "Twink," a male street prostitute compelled to seek a little payback of his own when his own father is murdered (and raped ... and torched) by the monstrous, insatiable Fuchman.

Adding a little sex to the equation is Ahab's neglected sister Chelsea (Amy Groening), raised in an orphanage and now working as a stripper in the Low Life Club, inevitably the scene of much gratuitous nudity and violence. (Teasers Burlesque Palace gets a thank-you in the credits.)

The premise allows the filmmakers to go all over the genre map, with a little giallo sequence here, revenge movie action there, and an epic finale featuring that staple of '80s horror cinema, a slimy rubber-suited monster (ridiculous, yet actually impressive).

There is an initial problem with tone, and one must point the finger at the actor playing Twink's dad, credited to one Billy Saddo, an actor who bears an uncanny resemblance to local actor Ross McMillan. His performance is actually off-puttingly professional; a movie like this requires the safety of over-the-top performances to keep us grounded in the realm of absurdity.

Otherwise, Father's Day does absurdity really well. Assuming one turns a blind eye to the film's gleeful bad taste, the film unflaggingly rises of winning gasps of amazement and honest laughs.

Remember those old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movies of old when Mickey says, "Hey, forget about that touring Broadway production! Let's put on our own show!"

Simply substitute "show" with "spectacle of deranged violence, gore, gratuitous nudity and slime."

The milieu is different. But the jubilant spirit is the same.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Movie review

Father's Day

Starring Adam Brooks, Matt Kennedy and Conor Sweeney

Cinematheque

R

101 minutes

3 stars out of five

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 16, 2012 D7