The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2012)

Absolutely Fantastic

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

May contain spoilers:I wrote a column about BlobFest 2015 in which I reviewed the Ghastly Love of Johnny X.Here was the gist of it...I went to BlobFest because I love "bad" movies. These aren't movies that are going to change cinema and they don't feature incredible special effects or life-altering dialogue. What they do do is entertain.And that is what Johnny X was for me. Pure entertainment.After spending the prior hour and a half watching a reddish alien blob take over small town America, I was primed and ready for more tacky yet superb entertainment.My ticket admission for the Blob included a viewing of The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, and director Paul Bunnell was on scene to answer questions and meet his public.Someone had described the movie as a mix between Crybaby meets the Creature from the Black Lagoon, so I knew whatever I was going to enjoy what was ahead of me.Here is what I wrote for the column in The Reading Eagle, which was unfortunately cut out due to length issues."The movie poster for Johnny X stated "They sing. They dance. They're juvenile delinquents from outer space." Who wouldn't love that? I missed the first few minutes because I was chatting up the movie's director, Paul Bunnell, but when I took my seat again and began digging in to my enormous tub of popcorn, I knew I had come upon something special. It's hard to describe the plot of Johnny X, but I'll give it a try. Johnny Xavier is banished to earth with his buddies, the Ghastly Crew, for causing a ruckus on his orderly home planet. He is chasing down his ex, Bliss, who stole a resurrection suit. His ex hooks up with a sweet, simple soda jerk Chip while Johnny agrees to help out the slick agent, King Clayton, with resurrecting rock star "Mickey O'Flynn, the man with the grin." O'Flynn, who spends half the movie dead and the other half alive and decomposing, also happens to be Johnny's dad, but hangs out with Johnny's former friend Sluggo, who wants the suit and power for himself. Still following? All of this is mixed in with "daddy-o's" and musical numbers that will have you tapping your feet and singing along. I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to. I left the theater with a big grin on my face. I couldn't help it. I was genuinely entertained. For the lowest grossing film of 2012, it definitely ranked high on my list of awesome, campy, sci-fi musicals, right up there with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I had bought the DVD before I watched the movie and was a bit nervous, but it's definitely one of the best things I've ever dropped $10 on. So thanks Paul Bunnell, for passionately getting this movie made, despite 10 years and no salary. It was totally worth it."So that was my take on the film. I didn't know any of the actors going in to the film, but thought it was pretty well performed, and I look forward to checking out some of the other things the actors have performed in. The plot had some holes and was a bit dodgy at times, but despite that, I had a blast watching this movie. I laughed so hard, and I've already watched it again since getting the DVD.So whomever reads this review, don't expect cinematic genius and you'll love it. This film is all about having a good time. And it's beautifully shot in black and white, which for me is a total bonus.

Now THIS is a FILM!! A REAL FILM, from top to bottom, inside and out. It was made for people who love film. If you have seen the trailer for this film and are wondering if the actual movie lives up to the trailer, well that trailer doesn't even scratch the surface. Even though the trailer too is awesome, this movie itself is a million times better than you think it will even be after watching the trailer. I'm sure you have read the synopsis, so I will spare you going over the plot points here and just tell you why you should see this film. From the very first frame to the vast last, even after the ending credits have rolled, The Ghastly Love of Johnny X is a true MASTERWORK of Art and Wizardry, through and through. Such fine care and attention went into every last detail and frame of this film, that I feel blessed to be able to sit back and witness the final vision and you should too. What I respect about it most is that it has such an extraordinarily strong sense of self identity, that it does not falter from it's unique and strange personality for even a second. This film lives in its own universe. It does not care to please the masses. It only cares to be itself...to live and breathe in the universe that it is.Both Quintin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez could learn more than just a thing or two from watching this film. This film reaches a point of greatness that those two have been TRYING to reach their whole careers but nearly always seem to just fall short of; here comes Paul Bunnell seemingly out of nowhere to show them how it's really done. The Johnny X film does not attempt greatness, it IS greatness! Everything from the directing, cinematography, slick camera work, lighting, editing, set designs, musical numbers, and the writing are all exceptionally on point. The whimsically rhythmical pacing of scenes and shots plus the purposeful overly theatrical acting also make this extremely fun to watch. Then there is the dialog... there is no shortage when it comes to ingeniously witty comedic dialog that will have you literally laughing out loud throughout the length of the film. The unbelievably brilliant wit and perfect comedic timing of the dialog makes this film absolutely HILARIOUS and worthy of multiple viewings! I've seen this movie twice now, and it's even better the 2nd time around. If this particular B&W Kodak Film Stock had to go out, then I'm glad it went down in a blaze of Johnny X glory. It's better than Sin City in every single way. Not since Road Racers has Rodriguez even come close to touching Johnny X.If you were able to take and combine Robert Rodriguez and Quintin Tarantino, bring them back to their glory days and make them way better at what they do and took away the extreme violence and mean spirited nature of their films and replaced it with superior quick wit and musical numbers, you would still only be looking at mere surface of The Ghastly Love of Johnny X. It's time put on your specks and watch this film for yourself and see what I'm talking about!! This movie is better than any hype I could give it. It is destined to become a cult classic.The Ghastly Love of Johnny X is a film that is more than deserving of the Criterion treatment. Not only does this film stand up tall along side the best movies ever made, it is also historically significant being the last feature to ever be shot on the B&W Kodak Plus-X film. I wouldn't be at all surprised if at some point soon we see a Johnny X blu-ray as part of The Criterion Collection.

This is a unique kind of a movie, no question there. The genre is more or less unclassifiable.Let's get to the point. For all the ways I wanted this movie to be great, it's so-so at best. It's disorganized and inconsistent.But the movie has one high point: De Anna Joy Brooks. She plays "Bliss", a member of the Ghastly Gang from another world, sent to earth as punishment or perhaps redemption. Brooks literally steals the movie with one song and dance routine, "These Lips That Never Lie." She is positively dripping with personality and suave. I wish I could say that about the rest of the cast, but De Anna is the only one who's clearly overqualified for this movie.Overall, I'd say skip this movie. But don't miss De Anna's dance number, perhaps on YouTube, etc. I've watched it a dozen times and never tire of it.

I saw this movie last night at the Valley Film Festival in North Hollywood, CA. Warning: aspects of this review could be construed as spoilers, though no plot details are given.While billed as a parody of 1950s low budget sci-fi and exploitation films, I think the filmmakers missed the mark, failing to understand the conventions of those genres that, to a modern viewer, make them campy and funny (e.g., ridiculously naive pseudo-science, archaic technology, outdated sexist, racist social mores, and the laughably unsophisticated pop culture of those times).The filmmakers also failed to understand that even a parody requires solid story structure and fully realized characters with clear desires (and clear obstacles to achieving those desires). The result is muddled and meandering, with no story spine to pull the audience through from beginning to end. Since too little is set up for the audience to anticipate, the ending can't help but be an unsatisfying anti-climax.That said, the music and musical numbers are quite good (the sound design top rate); though I would have liked the musical numbers better if they had also driven the story forward, or at least done more to flesh out the characters. As is often the problem with musical numbers in movies, forward story movement grinds to a halt, and we learn little or nothing new about the characters.The film features several strong performances, particularly from De Anna Joy Brooks as Bliss, Kate Maberly as Dandi Conners, and Les Williams as Chip -- a feat particularly notable since the film was made in bits and pieces over the course of more than ten years. (Kevin McCarthy also turns in a good performance, his last film, despite being 90 years old.)Will Keenan seems miscast as the titular lead. While he had the attitude and the moves, he lacked the gravitas (and strong singing voice) to carry the film. It's clear that he has no idea why Johnny X does what he does, nor carries any history of his alleged bad deeds. (This is also a failing of the script, which doesn't make the case that Johnny is as powerful as we are told.)Creed Bratton works well as washed up pop rock sensation Mickey O'Flynn, but is undermined by the weak script, which fails to provide us even a glimmer of insight into why O'Flynn would be so loved and revered.Reggie Bannister does a credible job as ruthless, self-serving promoter, King Clayton, but he is often undercut by the actress who plays his girlfriend. (Apologies, but I can't seem to positively identify the correct actress here on IMDb.) Though her character is a grotesque cliché, she brings a lot of energy to the role, hitting exactly the right tone -- overbearing, even annoying, yet still funny and, therefore, endearing.As is the case with most celebrity cameos in indie films, Paul Williams isn't on screen long enough to make much of an impression as Cousin Quilty. Though there are indications that there is history between he and other characters in the story, the writing and direction of Williams' character does too little to bring that history to life.Director of Photography, Francisco Bulgarelli, does a beautiful job with the cinematography, a task no doubt made more nerve-wracking by the fact that he was shooting the last of a discontinued Kodak black & white film stock, leaving no margin for error in terms of retakes or waste. Every foot shot was one less foot of a finite amount of stock available.The Art Department and effects team also deserve kudos for the retro practical effects, most of which were done in-camera. Ironically, it's the old school effects that give the film some of its best production values.Overall, the film is a mixed bag. As is so often the case with movies like this, it's too much style, not enough substance, weakened by an uneven and unfocused script. However, I tip my hat to Paul Bunnell and all involved for persevering through ten years of setbacks to finish the film. Given that circumstance, it's amazing the movie is as good as it is.Thus, I have to count myself a fan of the movie, and eagerly await Bunnell's next effort, "Rocket Girl."