Wonderland
Yes folks! That’s Paris Hilton all righty…
WONDERLAND (R)
Directed by: James Cox
Written by: James Cox &
Captain Mauzner and Todd Samovitz & D. Loriston Scott
Starring:Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Eric Bogosian, Lisa Kudrow, Dylan McDermott, Josh Lucas
Year: 2003
I love reading bad reviews of films that I think are worth “wasting” two hours on. It gives me a kind of perspective on how out-of-touch and nerdy critics seem to be sometimes.
The thing I find when I’ve read reviews on ‘Wonderland’, the picture based on the Wonderland Avenue Murders in the early eighties was that everyone seems to be looking for a point to the grimy, drug-infused, murderous mayhem.
I am thouroughly content to sit back and watch as the horror unfolds, then walk away formulating my own opinions regarding the fact .vs. the fiction and whether it was communicated properly.
Since I really only do DVD reviews on this blog, a lot of filmgoers already know the plot of the film. For those of you that either didn’t grow up in the seventies/early eighties or have no idea who John Holmes is, I’ll quickly reiterate the story behind it all:
John C. Holmes - the first “porn star”. (P.T. Anderson based Dirk Diggler on him.) Holmes really had a 14″ cock. Anyway, Holmes begins doing drugs mid-way through his porn career then slides into an addiction while hanging with a fucked-up bunch of gun-toting druggies on Wonderland Avenue in Hollywood California to support his habit.
There’s a very rich and very dangerous club owner by the name of Eddie Nash, who is a regular supplier of Holmes. Holmes gets the wacky idea of selling the druggies’ antique guns to Nash in exchange for more drugs (which at this time he can barely afford since no one will hire his coked-out ass anymore).
Druggies break into Nash’s place with Holmes’ help - rob Nash of over a million dollars in jewels, money and drugs. Nash is not stupid, gets pissed, beats the shit out of Holmes, and after getting the address of the druggies who robbed him, proceeds to send over a hit squad to pummel everyone’s skull into slurry with the help of several lead pipes.
Holmes escapes the evening and one of the druggies, David Lind (a barely recognizable Dylan McDermott), was not at the Wonderland residence that evening.
You may think that’s all there is to it, but using alternating police interrogations of Lind and Holmes as well as shuffling the chain of events surrounding the crime, writer/director James Cox creates doubt as to the actual truth of the events. (Considering the outcome in reality, I don’t know if anyone will ever be sure exactly what happened.)
I haven’t seen “Rashomon”, but a lot of critics seem to want to compare the narrative device created in “Rashomon” and employed in “Wonderland”. So, I’m thinking they’re either saying “Rashomon” sucks, or “Wonderland” isn’t all that bad.
I’m going to lean on the “Wonderland” not sucking side of the fence. I can’t say I “liked” “Wonderland”, but really - who says a film has to be enjoyable for it to be a “good film”? There are critics who laud a film like “Henry-Portrait of a Serial Killer” which bored the shit out of me and yet they state that “Wonderland” is confusing, disjointed and pointless.
As for the acting - I found everyone in the film to be top notch. I love Val Kilmer, since his choices in roles are similar to Johnny Depp. There’s an array of recognizable faces in “Wonderland” and this does, unfortunately, lead to little screen time for many of them, including Christina Applegate and Jeneanne Garafolo.
“Wonderland” was terrifying to me. It was gritty, grungy and absolutely horrifying by it’s conclusion. I found the narrative to be interesting, clear and disturbing. Well worth the trip if you’re a big fan of true-crime adaptations to film. This is the stuff that scares me, not hackneyed crap like “Jason .vs. Freddy”.
I guess the best way to describe the experience was like “Blow” meets “Boogie Nights” meets “Helter Skelter”. If that’s your cup of tea, then “Wonderland” will be of interest to you.
Not only that, the most bizarre thing about this 2 disc DVD is that they give you the actual L.A.P.D. crime scene footage on the first disc(!) which was the most shocking thing I have seen in a long while and an hour and forty-five minute documentary on John Holmes, which is the second disk put together by VCA Pictures of all people.
Take a porno trip down memory lane with John’s wife, girlfriend, agent and a pile of old porn stars from the early eighties. They even interview P.T. Anderson! Wow! Hilarious…
The best line is from Al Goldstein, regarding John Holmes (who, in my opinion, was little more than a druggie, whore, pimp, wife-beater and stool pigeon) as the “J.F.K.” of the porno industry.