Stuck

‘Stuck’ takes off with bizarre, bloody plot




STEPHEN REA in "Stuck."

Stuart Gordon directed a bloody B-type horror picture called “Re-Animator” back in 1985.
It was so over the top and goofy, it turned out to be a lot of fun, once you got past the blood and gore.
It's sort of the same way a generation later with his film “Stuck.”
I didn't plan to like this picture, oh those of us with preconceived ideas.
But like “Re-Animator,” Gordon went over the top. But then he went down the next valley and to the top of the next hill and by then, by gosh, it started working.
It would probably make a great cult film, much like "Re-Animator." Even more interesting, it is grounded in fact. Bizarre fact, but fact just the same.
The film opens with two stories that soon converge. Mena Suvari is a young woman working in a nursing home who wants to advance. She doesn't mind handling the problems of senile-old men who can no longer control their bowels. When a supervisor asks her to work another Saturday with the promise of a possible promotion, she agrees.
Outside the nursing home, this seemingly dedicated and responsible young lady enters a different world.
She starts drinking heavily at a bar where she meets her drug-dealing boyfriend who pops a pill in her mouth, presumably to get her in the mood for some later bedroom activity.
Meanwhile, we have everyman Stephen Rea, who plays Thomas Bardo, a seemingly intelligent guy who had been downsized from his job and is about to be evicted by his nasty landlord from his crummy apartment.
It doesn't matter he has a job interview. Landlord won't let him take anything out of the apartment until the rent is paid. So the Bardo character grabs his clothes and runs out, with landlord in tow.
The poor guy goes to the interview carrying his clothing. He doesn't have anywhere to put them.
That night, he is homeless, walking the street. A bum gives him a spare shopping cart to push his meager belongs around in.
Suddenly the Suvari character careens down the street in a drunken stupor, trying to call druggie BF while Bardo is crossing the street. The two plots literally merge at that point.
Bardo flies into the windshield of the car while the drunken lady drives home, with Bardo's head bleeding onto her seat and his feet hanging out the front of the car.
You may recall a woman actually hit a man and like the Suvari character, drove home undetected to place the car and the wounded victim in her garage. The real story had the man begging the woman to call an ambulance because he was bleeding to death and she refused. In real life, the man died. It was also the topic of a "CSI" episode.
In this version, the victim tries every way imaginable to break free and get help while coping with pieces of jagged, bloody glass hanging from his body.
He seems to get a break when he finds a cell phone on the seat or when a young boy discovers him in the garage or when a young dog finds him and thinks he might make a nice meal. Yeah, it gets gross. But each time his hope for rescue is trounced.
Russell Hornsby plays the drug-dealing boyfriend who isn't as tough as he would like to be.
There are twists and turns and unexpected events. Nothing is too bizarre. Nothing is too crazy.
Just be warned. Don't watch this movie the night before you donate blood.

STUCK
• Directed by Stuart Gordon
• Written by John Strysik and Gordon
• Rated R for strong violence, disturbing content, sexuality/nudity, language and drug use
• Runtime: 85 minutes
• 3 stars out of 5