I watch some pretty batshit stuff. From movies like Big Ben and Leaving D.C., a couple of decent found footage that's...actually kind of impressive with the special effects they don't use...and I'm not being sarcastic. For a movie where you're staring at one guy roaming around a house, it's actually pretty interesting and they really nail the mood they were aiming for. And then I stumble on a movie called Deep Dark, the synopsis being a struggling artist who moves in a room with a talking glory hole that seemingly helps him achieve success at riskier costs, the high point of the movie being the guy actually does stick his Dick in the hole to get the unearthly being to produce more...you know, I sound nuts right now. Just go watch the movie to see how insane it is.
But perhaps one movie that left my jaw completely open was Decay (which I stumbled on Amazon Prime). From the title, you'd assume it was a zombie flick, but oh, no. This is quite the rabbit hole. The absolutely bizarre plot is what piqued my interest - by some freak coincidence, the world's most awkward and loneliest man in the world stumbles on a female corpse and befriends it. No, this isn't like Fido where it's a charming tale of boy making friends with a zombie. There are no horror elements in this film, it's merely a...do I dare say, romance between a Casanova and Cadaver? With the main obstacle being rather unsettling in the sense that you watch this woman decay as the movie goes on while this guy continues to live in denial.
In fact, it's jarring how mellow this movie is considering what's going on. It starts off kind of charming, in a sick way, how a majority of the movie is just this one guy doing his daily routine of taking his pills, going to work, chatting with his co-worker until it cuts to him going home, listening to his caretaker ramble...and then eventually trying to squeeze in some time to spend with his...um, girlfriend and later on, the stresses of maintaining her. Yeah, it's a pretty gross flick, and I don't recommend eating. Especially when there are scenes of him eating dinner while staring lovingly at her while you witness her decay further as the movie goes on. And I'm sure someone's going to ask - and, no. There isn't a scene where the guy has sex with the corpse.
Decay is both...unsettling to watch, yet too interesting and surreal that I had to see it through. It's...not often I had to take a shower just by watching a movie. The only downside is that the producers insisted on including unnecessary and out of place jumpscares in the form of hallucinations or dreams towards the end...and they really try to hammer in the idea of a corpse being scary. And the sad thing is that it falls flat because this is not a horror movie. It's hard to feel any sense of fear knowing it won't come to life and pose a threat. No, Decay succeeds in making me squirm in my seat. Just watching the guy brush maggots off her body...hell, the mere sight of watching him touch the body at all after the hour mark already made the movie's point. I'd love to mention the cockroach scene, but...hell, this is a movie you just gotta see for yourself.
But, I gotta hand it to the producers. At the start of the film, the "co-star" is a very attractive woman, and I'm actually kind of impressed how they turned her into the most disgusting thing ever. In fact, it's surprising how much thought went into this movie - you might wonder how this guy manages to keep a low profile among all this let alone keeping it going for as long as he did, and your questions will be answered towards the end. And at that point, it becomes a pretty depressing movie. By all means, it's got a fairly happy ending...or at least, as happy an ending towards a situation like this would ever possibly warrant, but you can't help but feel...dirty after watching it. Look, it's hard to describe this movie. I watched it twice, and I'm still lost for words. Among the horror movies that are my main focus to even the strangest B-movies and foreign flicks I own, Decay ranks pretty damn high on my trauma meter.