Retro Film Review: Curdled (1996)

(source: tmdb.org)

In second half of 1990s many films tried to repeat success of Pulp Fiction by "borrowing" its plot, characters and soundtrack. Few of them had such ties to Tarantino's masterpiece as Curdled, 1996 black comedy directed by Reb Braddock. Its 1991 short version, Curdled served as an inspiration for one of Pulp Fiction subplots and its star Angela Jones appeared in Tarantino's film playing the role similar to her character in Curdled. Two years after Pulp Fiction Tarantino returned the favour to Braddock by being executive producer of longer version.

Angela Jones in this film repeats role of Gabriela, Colombian immigrant who is still fascinated by violent deaths after spending childhood in her troubled country. She lives in Miami and her favourite hobby includes making a scrapbook about most violent crimes and following media reports about "Blue Blood Killer" (played by William Baldwin), psychopath who likes to decapitate affluent women. After a while she joins the staff of "Post-Forensic Cleaning Service", company specialised for removing gore and other signs of violent crimes from people's homes. This would give her plenty of opportunities to get close to the object of her morbid fascination, but that would also endanger her life. The killer has accidentally left important evidence on the latest crime scene, so he returns and that would lead to violent confrontation with Gabriela.

Since it is nothing more than feature-length version of a short film, Curdled at times seems to be overlong. The morbid jokes about blood and gore get repetitive and the more sensitive viewers probably won't be pleased with enormous amounts of blood and scenes of graphic violence. However, Curdled more or less manages to overcome those flaws mostly thanks to the wonderful acting by Angela Jones. She injects so much childlike innocence and charms into her character that the audience would begin to sympathise with her and forget that she happens to be one sick puppy. The somewhat surreal ending of the film leaves something to be desired, but general impression of Curdled is going to be positive. Those who can stomach Curdled would have its patience rewarded by nice little film which is entertaining in its own morbid way.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 24th 2003)