Joe Begos's latest horror film, Jimmy and Stiggs, aims for sensory overload but delivers only visual noise and numbing gore. The DayGlo-hued, heavy metal-spackled movie relies on abundant dismemberment and shaky-cam first-person footage, but the bright orange blood and fake-looking alien creatures fail to provoke either disgust or engagement. Instead, the effect is boring and headache-inducing.
Made over several years in a single apartment, Jimmy and Stiggs is the brainchild of writer-director-producer-star Joe Begos, who also plays the title character. Begos, who made the marginally better Christmas Bloody Christmas a few years ago, portrays Jimmy, a horror filmmaker in a career slump who spends his time getting drunk and high in his grimy, black-lit hovel.
The plot involves an alien invasion, with Jimmy fighting back using alcohol, which is poisonous to the invaders. His friend Stiggs (Matt Mercer) is reluctant to help, as he has been sober for six months and must drink whisky to prove he is not an alien. The film's premise feels stretched, and the joke wears thin quickly.
Jimmy and Stiggs is on digital platforms from 16 February.
