Bruiser (2000)

[RyanSz 3140]

Released in 2000 but looks like it was made in the early 90s, Bruiser is a film made by George A. Romero that comes off like Romero was trying to move as far away from horror as he could. I originally heard about this film from listening to Romero's director commentary on Dawn of the Dead where he lamented that it didn't do well because the studio marketed it as a slasher when it was more of a thriller and study of self worth. Jason Flemyng, in I think his first and only lead role of his career, plays the eponymous Bruiser who is pushed around by everyone until he one day wakes up and his face is stark white, a blank slate. From there he takes that to mean he has to get revenge on all those who wronged him, including his wife and boss who are having an affair.

 

It starts out pretty decent, but then gets muddled after he first gets the white face, because no one either notices his face or they aren't too put off by it, until he is killing them. Other insane things in this movie include Peter Stormare running around a busy street in his underwear yelling at cops, a costume party for Stormare's company which features The Misfits wherein one of the bouncers gets in a fight with a band member, lasers that are used to cut open pinatas and then kill a person, some of the worst disguises ever used by movie characters that I have ever seen.

 

The movie is on Amazon Prime Instant video or if you don't have that it's pretty cheap to rent. It's definitely worth a watch as this was Romero's first movie after he did The Dark Half almost a decade prior, and his usual social commentary is laid on pretty thick in this movie. I do feel kinda bad for Flemyng because he is actually pretty good in this and tries to make the best of the role, but unfortunately he's only really been a character actor before and since this movie.