Parasite

A little bit of plot. A scientist who specializes in parasitic pathology is on the run from Los Angeles, carrying not only a parasitic specimen in a canister but one inside his body and knows his time is drawing short while he attempts to study for a way to kill them, encountering a gang of young hooligans and locals of a California desert stop. On his tail is a calculatingly determined member of an evil corporation that wants to find him, perhaps for the very specimens currently in the scientist’s possession.
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Meanwhile, a creature escapes from the canister the scientist was carrying when the hooligans kidnap him, carrying him to their hangout in the middle of nowhere, the thing attaching itself to the shoulder of one of the obnoxious members (the late Tom Villard, a cult hero of sorts who died far too soon, notable for the tame but fun cult favorite, Popcorn, and the irresistible John Cusack comedy, One Crazy Summer). What horrors await anyone who encounters the creature now loose and, more importantly, will the agent (in suit and those hitman gloves, driving one of those cars with the doors that open like wings) find the scientist?

When you watch Parasite, I always felt you can see how it draws inspiration from both post-apocalyptic movies (it carries that desolate, poverty-ridden, trash atmosphere of a Mad Max or A Boy and His Dog, with Don Johnson) and creature features (like Alien and Cronenberg’s They Came from Within), something not surprising considering those who were behind its making, Charles Band and his collaborators. Films I always enjoy (some call them guilty pleasures, but I don’t feel guilty enjoying Laserblast or Parasite, even if these are films considered crap by most of those who watch them) often cull ideas and basic looks from other films (which themselves often culled ideas and other aspects from other inspirational movies). As long as you are a filmmaker and production team adding your own stamp, style, and mark to a film that is inspired by others, I’m not the kind of viewer who will bellyache too much.

Sure, the critique of “rip-off hacks” will be thrown around at Charles Band and Italian filmmakers who made multi-genre films that had more than their share of similarities to popular mainstream fare, but if there’s an energy that’s palpable (camerawork that is inspired, a pace that hums, action that kicks, etc.), a cast with something to offer (not just going through the motions or slumming it…), a look that can impress (“dressed” locations that mimic the future, whether it is the tell-tale signs of a location in the future that signifies a world in ruin or having suffered from mankind’s mistakes, various props, vehicles, clothes, etc. that create a type of future from the imagination of the filmmakers, or a creative design of a future that evokes how modern time in the 80s now is a relic to the current characters living in the film’s depressing future, how we left it in disrepair), and a plot that can hold my interest (just give me something unique or different that isn’t exactly like other films you were influenced by), I won’t judge too harshly as a fan of sci-fi/horror/fantasy/action.

Parasite follows a really sick Dr. Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini, rather cold and icy, but he has an interesting face, I thought) as he tries to study the parasites in his possession, leaving the big city and vulnerable to the vultures that might wait outside in an environment alien to him, the outskirts of the California desert. Inflation is catastrophic as basic items like packs of tea cost $5 individually, a can of soup requires something of value (like a fancy wrist watch), and gasoline is priced as high as $50 (!) where stations ask for silver as dollar bills have no worth whatsoever (a hotel proprietor says that dollar bills are merely wallpaper, worthless). Vultures like a pack of rabblerousing troublemakers (led by Luca Bercovici’s  skuzzy scumbag, Ricus) always look to start shit with innocents who just want to be left alone (like Demi Moore’s vegetables-grower, Patricia and Al Fann’s café owner, Collins), eyeing Dean because he’s an outsider, fresh meat. When you go looking for trouble, sometimes it is returned in kind…Ricus’ bunch will learn this the hard way.

Here’s the villain of the film: Merchants have gained basic control over the country, the government in bed with them, and the parasite is of definite interest in regards to its potential use as a serious threat, a weapon with frightening repercussions to those who are inflicted with them. Dr. Dean tells Patricia that if a parasite is able to reproduce microscopic spores can be released into the air, falling onto skin means more parasites will grow.

Ricus' brood remind me of those unruly, undisciplined bunch in Classic Star Trek's Miri, sort of on their own, no guidance, quarrelsome and without direction.

The pod-headed parasite creatures basically are all mouth and teeth (in fact, it reminded me of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors!). I always loved the way low budget creature features used to have these really slimy, ugly things in them. Like Forbidden World from Corman’s New World, Parasite has a nasty monster, albeit smaller and crawls across floors. The location of Parasite might give it an appeal it wouldn’t have otherwise. The California desert and a parasitic creature(...a suit who may not look intimidating, at first, labeled a Merchant by Ricus, who is in fact all business and on a mission, creates a lot of the ongoing violence that will emerge due to his unflinching willingness to hurt anyone that stands in his way) placed at the forefront in level of importance on a really tight budget. I love the period from the 70s into the 80s where you could make a post-apocalyptic film on next to nothing, peanuts, and there’s room to make an effective film. Just find abandoned buildings and areas. Or even do the little things to dress up a run-down gas station or the remnants of what once might have been a rather decent inn. Sometimes, there are buildings or areas which need next to nothing done, very little redressing. I guess it takes the effort to do so. When you watch, for instance, Trancers, just some imagination and a little touching up, and there can be a future that gives us an indication of what might have happened to Lost Angeles, buried underwater, or as Parasite shows, civilization outside the big cities practically people-less, for the exception of a brave few willing to try and make it on their own, with places like a café or car garage as refuges from the hot sun.

I think the ultimate problem with a movie like Parasite is that it lives and dies by its body bursting effects while the plot leaves much to be desired. The creature bursts from a face even. The scientist even survives at the end when a dormant parasite that has been growing gradually inside him bursts from his stomach after a noisy oscillator “fries it”. It momentarily attaches to Patricia’s arm. We get some real freaky scenes where the parasite is growing because of its attachment to victims like Cherie Currie’s girlfriend to Ricus. We see the aftermath of Villard’s parasite damage, his face practically petrified due to dehydration thanks to the loss of blood and fluid needed to survive. Currie has the damn thing actually growing from her hip, biting her on the leg, before eventually draining her as dry as Villard. That is what the film goes for more than anything else, that icky shock effect of the make-up gore (prosthetics for  Vivian Blaine’s face and Villard’s along with burrowed places in flesh all add a particular creep factor that might just elicit some response, I have to imagine) and parasitic monster in various forms. The setting eventually loses its value in favor of these gory shocks/thrills.With an emphasis on the 3D craze as well, the loyalties were on reactions from the audience due to technical aspects...not too different from today's sci-fi/horror.

Performances/characters are rather not that extraordinary. Besides James Davidson’s Wolf, the Merchant, who has a healthy mean streak, no one in the cast cries out great things. Luca Bercovici shows some intensity after at first just provoking annoyance as the leader of the gang of bullying kids, engaging Wolf in that struggle. Wolf represents totalitarian control and a danger to all mankind and Ricus is fully aware of what it is to be forced under the order of the Merchants. Al Fann is fun as the café owner, and has some great scenes with his shotgun, often pointed right at Ricus and his brood. Demi Moore is a cutie but her nonperformance doesn’t exactly fire up the screen. Glaudini is presented as so sickly and progressively weakened—in that we can sympathize, I guess, although he brought it on to himself—but he’s too bland and colorless in the hero role. But in pain—agonizing as it grows inside of him—that at least works. Villard and Curie provide names in the cast that encourage curiosity. Ricus is given a dignified exit, inspired to stop Wolf who is trying to find the parasite. Wolf is able to outlast Ricus, but he doesn't exactly meet the parasite on the terms he probably wanted. That final image of a burned corpse and parasite is aces. This is Charles Band around Laserblast so he's blowing it something, you better believe it.

One thing's for sure, if you are not a fan, Demi's getting slugged some by Wolf should be to your liking.

Obviously Parasite and Demi Moore together in the same sentence causes the eyebrows to rise and this morbid curiosity like that parasite grows. The result, as the parasite, doesn't yield pretty results. Oh, she's pretty, but I'm rather sure Demi put this behind her as best she could without hesitation. You have to get your start somewhere. Stan Winston's name attached (pun intended) to this film is of greater interest to someone like me than Demi, although I'm the first to admit that her involvement in a Charles Band creature feature did intrigue me. It's too bad she couldn't summon the same kind of game performance as Helen Hunt would in Trancers. I can't really judge too harshly, because Hunt's part had some nice lines and Demi didn't have Thomerson opposite her. Add the absolute lack of  chemistry between Glaudini and Moore (unlike the wonderful chemistry between Thomerson and Hunt), and the comparison is lopsided. There will always be a pre-stardom intrigue when it comes to stars and horror. Demi stuck in Parasite because she's starving for a part, any part, and moves on to the next film, putting this behind her. It is good for the movie; Demi's stardom after Parasite will bring eyes to Band's film.Sometimes you take publicity any way you can get it.