Pop Skull
Year: 2007
Running time: 86 mins
USA
Screenplay: Lane Hughes, E.L. Katz, Adam Wingard
Photography/Editor: Adam Wingard
Music: Kyle McKinnon, Justin Leigh
DigiBeta/R16 violence, offensive language, drug use
With: Lane Hughes, Brandon Carroll, Hannah Hughes, Maggie Henry, L.C. Holt
Festivals: Rome 2007
Note: this film uses strobe effects
Welcome to the fevered dream world of Daniel, 20-something and losing the plot. Upset from an ended relationship, plagued by recent murders, Daniel is downing too many pills and starting to trip out big time. We are taken on a creepy subconscious journey into Daniel's popping skull, inhabited by spontaneous violence, shocking aural hallucinations and murderous ghosts from his past. Director Adam Wingard has created one of the most dazzling and distinctive American independent films since the heyday of the early 90s: its hip sensibility is Lynch before he went into self-parody. This micro-budget flick has turned its fiscal limitations into strengths. Empathising with Daniel's attempt to make a human connection through the mother of all acid freakouts, the audience has no choice but to sit on the edge of their seats, watching this druggy-ghost tale through to its shockingly surreal conclusion. — AT
