Rot (2019)

 Another Shudder premiere I gave a viewing to Wednesday night, late, and to say I'm taken aback by Rot (2019) would be an understatement. There is a giant monster phallus with tendrils reaching out from the hole towards Madison (Kris Alexandrea) who has a hammer and uses it to make sure she remains safe from any harm. This after Madison pummels just-turned-30 Aaron (Johnny Uhorchuk) with hammer, took off her dress with only panties left on, and chopped off Jesse's (Johnny Kostrey) creature penis. Seeing a creature penis (very, very veiny penis) crawl away, then return much, much bigger...no words.

The film starts with a ton of realism. Madison is barely holding it together because she is multi-tasking something fierce. She is eyeing a grant interview with money potentially funding a thesis while assisting a demanding professor in class. She is constantly studying, and this thesis takes so much of her time. Jesse is her boyfriend, working a rather frustrating nursing home job. Jesse is actually very affectionate and caring. He seems very into her, and you can tell Madison is his whole world. I had read a reaction pondering if the "evil" of the film is an emerging toxic masculinity given form out of sexual frustration, or something to that effect. Whatever it is, when Madison makes it known that she needs a break from the relationship and Jesse is grabbed by an old lady patient telling him she doesn't appreciate him while forcing a kiss on him; these have a correlation because Jesse is never the same. That old lady patient kiss (which seems to come from an evil possessing her) triggers something inside him, as later, when he's home, Jesse has a serious seizure. Aaron and his girlfriend, Nora (Sara Young Chandler), are shocked, trying to help him, not anticipating Jesse's violent reaction once out of that seizure.

Eventually Jesse leaves Aaron's and is found by a jogger, pouncing on the guy, giving him a forced smooch. So this sets off a type of virus shared by forced kisses with many of those possessed violently attacking others. Some are killed, like one of Madison's friends being pushed off the top of an apartment building. But old folks from the home get out there to serve as eerie purveyors of doom, as well as, a few possessed millennials attending Aaron's birthday party. "He who is coming" seems to be the monster phallus, looking to score with Madison. Jesse does end up at Madison's house one more time before he really goes off the deep end, trying to figure out what is wrong with him, fighting with some inner turmoil that seems potentially dangerous to Madison. Could all of this stem from her deciding to choose career over him?

At any rate, the very end has a pole with a missing poster of Jesse. 

Look, back to the relationship. Yes, Jesse was going to propose to Madison. But, no offense to Jesse, Madison had a lot on her plate and his nakedness simply was a distraction. I imagine there could be plenty of time for fucking when Madison got through grant interviews and grading papers for her asshole professor. Whatever was possessing Jesse makes sure the professor is no longer an interruption. But, missing or not, Madison's career is important to her. She does tell him that her work is what is most important... through her standoffishness, Jesse is more or less a nuisance. Unfortunately, it would appear that Madison might be able to get that time for the work now that he's out of the way. That reads cruel, but in today's time, the career is very important, particularly when you are young and ambitious. The professor telling Madison to focus on autistic kids for her grant "because that is where the money is and corporate interests are important" really does provoke a response. There's a lot of truth there. Focus on the money and career instead of love and romance... That seems to be a path tread by many these days. Jesse preparing to propose, only for Madison to brush his advances away, just not interested in him, she isn't just hinting...she's practically yelling it aloud.

You have the sister, friends, elderly patients, random locals, and even medical personnel all podlike zombies moving towards Madison at the hospital where Jesse works, with Aaron all tied up and a hammer there to prove her love for Jesse...the ending just gets more and more epic in terms of surreal, outre developments. I can just imagine quizzical faces totally bracing for the next elusive moment that further knocks them for a loop. 

Difficult, cryptic, chaotic, and unexpected, Rot (2019) is a film that might bore some, captivate others, and leave plenty scratching their heads with an appropriate, "What the fuck was that about?!" 2.5/5