According to IMDb.com, "Acne" premiered at the MicroCineFest in Baltimore Nov. 30, 2000. Apparently gathering a small cult following over the years, it was finally released on DVD in June of 2005. Today, it is being reviewed in The Badger Herald. It just keeps reaching new heights.
It is hard to approach a movie like "Acne." How does one criticize something that is not even trying very hard to be of high quality? This is clearly a low budget horror movie made with whatever the writer and director, Rusty Nails, had at his immediate disposal. It is almost beyond any real criticism because it is already aware of most of its inadequacies.
It is going to be like criticizing someone for sucking at karaoke. The majority of the time, the person knows that he or she is not singing well. The main thing is that everyone is having a good time watching and listening, and hopefully he or she is enjoying the crowd's enjoyment. Even still, at least they are doing the best that they can with what they were given. Trying is worth something, isn't it?
Unfortunately, "Acne" is not incredibly enjoyable to watch. Thankfully, though, it is not trying to take itself too seriously. The synopsis on the DVD explicitly describes the movie as a "unique dark comic vision." It is hard to argue with that description. The movie is all of those things. It is quite unique, definitely dark, contains moments that are meant to be comical and is undeniably a vision of some sort.
What that vision might be is questionable, though. There does not seem to be much of a point to the movie. It just kind of exists. There is also a lot of redundancy and over-explanation. Nails seems to be straining to make the movie last over an hour.
The plot is relatively simple. While taking a drink of water one morning, Zoe (Rusty Nails) immediately has an adverse reaction. His sister, Franny (Tracey Hayes), enters to find that a pimple-like growth on the top of his head is expanding.
Within moments, the growth pops fluid all over her face and into her mouth. She is now also infected. The two siblings go out on the town and begin infecting other teenagers in various ways, mostly by spitting up on them.
It turns out that Mershey Chocolates, as a way to increase their sales, has tainted the water with some type of oil. Mershey's plan is to turn teenagers into "zitheads." Zitheads have an uncontrollable urge to rub chocolate and other oily substances on the top of their infected heads.
See, the genius behind it is that only adolescents can be affected because they are the ones with the highest levels of natural oil already in their system. This leaves parents and other adults safe and available to buy the afflicted the Mershey products they so desperately crave. It sounds like Mershey has found the perfect way to turn a profit.
This has to be one of the most insanely ludicrous plots for a movie ever. It is so stupid that it is almost humorous. Almost, but not quite.
Funny moments do exist within the movie. For example, after one of the teenagers scolds his cat for drinking out of the toilet, he peers down at the water and says, "That doesn't look too bad." Taking a cue from his cat, he proceeds to drink from the toilet and gets infected. That is rather comical. The movie needs more moments like this.
The main problem with the film is the way the movie is made. There are some sound and dialogue problems and lots of amateurish acting. At least once in the movie, Nails' eyes look into the camera in a moment where it is clear that he should not be doing so. Also, some of the people stumble over their lines and are just flat-out awful actors.
Characteristics such as this could add to the charm, but more than anything, it makes the movie look like something that Ed Wood would have created. Ed Wood is kind of amusing because he's so clueless to his faults. Nails seems to possess, though not exactly uses to its full ability, a clue. As a result, the movie lacks the clueless charm. Still, if you like Ed Wood films, this movie could be right up your alley.
Plus, the movie has received accolades from well-known directors John Waters and George A. Romero. Maybe they got a kick out of the poor production quality and cheesy acting, or perhaps they saw some kind of future potential in Nails. However, judging from "Acne," Rusty Nails still needs to find his voice.
