ANAL PAPRIKA
PLOT-During a harmless outing in the wilderness, three friends encounter a savage brute whose psychotic hatred of John Stamos drives him to kill.
VIOLENCE-Head crushing and several instances of trauma to the eyeball.
SEX/NUDITY-One (clothed) comical masturbation scene with messy results.
WHY I WATCHED IT-Did you catch the title? It's either a freaky cooking video, a bizarre porno, or a Chris Seaver film. Either way, I'm interested.
THE DOPE-I'll be honest, I never watched a single episode of FULL HOUSE. Just wasn't around for it, despite the fact that I loved Dave Coulier in Nickelodeon's brilliantly weird OUT OF CONTROL in the early 80's. I think by the time FULL HOUSE was on, I was addicted to late-night cable movies and MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, and never caught the supposed comedy infraction that was FULL HOUSE. Thus, I never bore witness to John Stamos's performance as "Uncle Jesse".
So i guess you could say that everything I know about Stamos, I learned by watching Chris Seaver's movies. For those who aren't aware, a small framed photo of Stamos appears somewhere in nearly all of his films, and for no explainable reason. It might lead you to wonder, what the hell is Seaver's problem with Stamos? I wondered that myself. However, after watching ANAL PAPRKIA, I understood. Looks to me like a joke that ended up becoming a "running joke", something fun that just stuck and wouldn't go away. And this, for all intents and purposes, is where it began.
In addition to being the penultimate Stamos-themed flick, ANAL PAPRIKA apparently was a turning point for Seaver as a filmmaker. It presents that patented style of his, mixing movie and tv references with crude sexual humor and, of course, horrific violence. The film itself plays like a combination of STAND BY ME and CANNIBAL THE MUSICAL, a friendly adventure that starts out innocen but turns bizarre and deadly soon enough. Seaver would eventually take this style of humor further and further, but PAPRKIA plays like a primer course in Low Budget Pictures, or LBP 101. It's necessary viewing for fans, but I can imagine how shocked the uninitiated will be if they see this one. No matter how you come into it, you're in for a treat here.
MEMORABLE SCENES-There's a scene where a female character appears to be masturbating, but is actually shaving her pubic hair off. She holds up a razor and a huge clump of hair is stuck to it. Classic!
NOTES-The 5th anniversary DVD edition is packed with features, including two very informative commentaries, new interviews, a music video, and a great documentary about the infamous Budnick.
(March 2004)