"We crave mystery 'cause there's none left."
This insanely labyrinthine film presents interesting puzzles (including some for the audience). For example, who is the "Dog Killer"? The disturbing ending is oddly uninformative, hence my review's essay.
Andrew Garfield plays aimless but inquisitive (and obsessive) Sam, who lives in LA. He has occasional disturbing hallucinations. We never find out what Sam's job was; he treats it as irrelevant and dislikes talking about it.
In a nutshell, Sam meets a pretty girl who disappears, and we're treated to a fever-dream version of the LA social/party scene with a huge dose of conspiracy theory, bolstered by codes and ciphers. Patrick Fischler is great as the paranoid author of an underground comic.
The film is slow and a tedious rewatch UNLESS you're trying to solve the primary riddle, which involves a location.
The film has at least a hundred clues; some are very subtle. Many details which SEEM like random artistic choices are quite deliberate.
I give this cult-film-attempt four stars, with a THREE-star bonus for cryptic puzzle/riddle content. That's seven (7) stars total. It's just my vote; YMMV.
Below is a discussion of the clues that relate to Sam's personality. STOP HERE if you don't want to read it.
*** META-SPOILER ALERT ***
OK, well I hope you saw the film at least once and read about the (What3Words) location riddle online.
Many of the odd props and toons are ancillary clues that qualify other clues or validate tenuous associations, letting you know you're on the right track. A few can be used as starting points.
Some clues point to three groups of shows and movies that appear to explain Sam's psychology. I'll go through these and then discuss the implications.
PERSONALITY REFERENCE #1
The name Jessie appears on one of the toon gravestones. This may refer to Jessie Pellegrino (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Beaver). There are many water references in the end credits, and Leave it to Beaver was playing on the bunker-tomb TV.
Jessie also worked on Eye Candy, which is an 11-episode MTV series starring Victoria Justice as Lindy, who (according to IMDB) is a "hacker with a gift for seeing clues and connections in the digital world that others can't." But more importantly, "Lindy begins to suspect that one of her suitors is a deadly cyber-stalker." This is validated by the toon of two silhouetted people (one profile resembles Victoria Justice) facing each other with "?" marks. Also, the "puzzle" T-shirts have 11 symbols, and the prices in the right-hand column of the coffee-shop menu board add up to $11, as do all but the last item in the left-hand column.
{The excluded item is "Garden (salad)". Victoria Justice was in The Garden (2006) with Lance Henriksen. This is a rabbit hole involving the location puzzle. There are dozens of others.}
What the Eye Candy reference means is that Sam *IS* a serial killer OF WOMEN (not just dogs). Whether he knows this is another question, but we'll get to that.
PERSONALITY REFERENCE #2
The Douglas Fairbanks toon near the beginning references The Iron Mask (1929). There is a toon of a dog drowning due to an attached iron ball. There is also a toon of the Fairbanks-wannabee with the Owl's Kiss (wearing her mask).
The Iron Mask relates to twins; one good and one evil (but powerful). IMDB has a nice close-up photo of a dramatic note that says "There is another one -- a twin son." Look it up.
What this means is that Sam has a split personality (as implied by the Jekyll & Hyde movie poster in his apartment). In other words, there is "Good Sam" and "Bad Sam". Towards the end of the film, the all-important billboard has been half-changed to a new advertisement; the face is literally split in half, with one half being a happy clown shedding a tear of joy (but can also be interpreted as a crazy clown with a prison tattoo). The final shot of the film shows Sam half-dressed; this symbology is consistent with a split personality. I suspect the ex-GF (Summer Bishil) became suspicious of Sam (think Lindy in Eye Candy) and dumped him. Sam evasively tells the Homeless King that his ex-GF had a dog that he misses, which he now (perhaps disturbingly) strongly associates with her (read on).
It's possible that Sam's line "Deep below the surface ... under the Silver Lake" is a metaphor for his subconscious. Indian-headdress-guy's T-shirt, when combined with items on the coffee-shop menu board, references the cartoon Duck Soup to Nuts (1944). Daffy tells Porky "You can't catch me, Fatso, because I can hold my breath underwater practically indefinitely." After Sam says his "Deep" line, there is a brief fuzzy toon image of the Dog Killer underwater (at ~19.30).
PERSONALITY REFERENCE #3
The first word on the coffee-shop menu board is Rosthern, birthplace of Erdman Penner (died in LA) who worked on Alice in Wonderland. The importance is underscored by the White (VW) Rabbit Sam follows. Also, the word FARIS is prominent in the Crypt Bar scene. Anna Faris is well-known for The House Bunny, which had a character named Oliver (Colin Hanks). Colin was in Numb3rs for two episodes and also in the the play "33 variations". He has an IMDB quote of "I collect watches because I'm always late, and I need to know exactly how late I'm going to be -- in order to come up with a good excuse", which may relate back to Alice in Wonderland.
Colin was in King Kong (2005) with Jack Black and Naomi Watts, a remake of the 1933 original with Fay Wray. There are some hidden references to the name "Jack". One involves Johnny Depp's mask, the pirate guy, and the "7-5-1" clue. Dead Men Tell No Tales is set in 1751 and features Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow and Paul McCartney as Uncle Jack. Combine this with Black Pearl and it points to Jack Black's King Kong film. IMDB says "The end credits are set against an art deco backdrop rather than the traditional black screen. The backdrop is an exact replica, in Technicolor, of the same backdrop that was used for the opening credits in the 1933 version of King Kong." In other words, we're being systematically led to the original film. If you look this film up, you'll find it starts with an opening card that says:
And the prophet said: "And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead." Old Arabian Proverb
The end-credit music is Strange Currencies by R. E. M. (from their Monster LP). The music video even features a coyote!
The implication is that Bad Sam is a monster, which fits nicely with his movie poster of The Wolf Man. It seems that Sam avoids killing beautiful women (if they like him?). Sarah met this standard, as did his ex-GF (Summer Bishil is hot). Three end-credit graphics appearing with Riki Lindhome's name apply to HER character (e.g., Sam likes the free food).
Sam is obsessed with finding Sarah, as she is unique (as was Fay Wray to King Kong).
{If you need more convincing, do note that Naomi Watts appeared in a number of provocatively-titled productions, notably the mini-series Brides of Christ (1991) as Frances Heffernan, which ties in with the "Jesus and the Brides of Dracula" band. Also, "Frances" signed the Cobain poster. Digging deeper, Naomi Watts and Tom Skerritt appeared together in The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer. Tom Skerritt was in The Rovers (1971), which may relate to the toon tombstone of Rover.}
DISCUSSION
Sam has an internal "evil twin" he is not fully aware of. The two personalities apparently vie for control. Whenever Sam hallucinates that women are barking at him, the evil/vindictive/insane twin is trying to wake up and take over. He probably wants to kill the ex for dumping him, even if he doesn't realize it. It's interesting that her fiancée is a large, friendly-but-capable type; she's probably drawn to him by a need for protection. When Sam meets her at the upscale backyard party, she seems tense but attempts to be friendly (thus concealing her discomfort). Also, her half of the billboard says "I Can See C", but "C" is part of a location clue, so for purposes of this discussion it says "I Can See" -- and then EGAD we have crazy-killer-clown right there. Sam is transfixed by all this.
Then there's that "Hamburgers are LOVE" slogan. Comic-Man says (about hidden-purpose messages) "That's as common as tits and hamburgers" and even shows a subliminal magazine ad equating tits and burgers. So the slogan becomes "Tits are love". However, in the first balloon-girl appearance, she has both blood-red and light pink balloons. The latter are darker near the tip, almost like aureole. The guests pop the balloons with pins (which Sam enjoys). The clown's hair contains a faint subliminal vagina, so I think the message here is that for Bad Sam, LOVE (i.e., sex) = Death-by-Stabbing. It's very dark.
{The billboard's purported location is near The Morrison, a burger joint. This ties in with the (large-breasted) gal with the Jim Morrison T-shirt cleaning "Dog Killer" graffiti from the coffee-shop window.}
At the end of the film, the scantily-clad neighbor lets Sam into her apartment. The vibe is just like a woman in a horror movie allowing a vampire to enter her abode. They have (implied) sex, and then Sam is on the balcony. We actually SEE him transform into his evil twin, who looks directly into the camera in a very disturbing way. It's likely he will kill the neighbor; by sleeping with him she has proven (in his mind) that she's a tramp and deserves no better. It's sick and twisted, but not exactly unheard of in horror films.
The final mystery may be the Owl's Kiss. Is she human (and vulnerable)? I suspect Good Sam can subconsciously access Bad Sam's deadly skill set in times of mortal peril. This defense mechanism, plus the gun, is too just much for the Owl's Kiss, who bolts, crying "No! No!". She clearly frightens Good Sam; he yelps in surprise.
FOR MORE ABOUT PUZZLE CLUES
See my (7-star) review of Monsters vs. Aliens.
This insanely labyrinthine film presents interesting puzzles (including some for the audience). For example, who is the "Dog Killer"? The disturbing ending is oddly uninformative, hence my review's essay.
Andrew Garfield plays aimless but inquisitive (and obsessive) Sam, who lives in LA. He has occasional disturbing hallucinations. We never find out what Sam's job was; he treats it as irrelevant and dislikes talking about it.
In a nutshell, Sam meets a pretty girl who disappears, and we're treated to a fever-dream version of the LA social/party scene with a huge dose of conspiracy theory, bolstered by codes and ciphers. Patrick Fischler is great as the paranoid author of an underground comic.
The film is slow and a tedious rewatch UNLESS you're trying to solve the primary riddle, which involves a location.
The film has at least a hundred clues; some are very subtle. Many details which SEEM like random artistic choices are quite deliberate.
I give this cult-film-attempt four stars, with a THREE-star bonus for cryptic puzzle/riddle content. That's seven (7) stars total. It's just my vote; YMMV.
Below is a discussion of the clues that relate to Sam's personality. STOP HERE if you don't want to read it.
*** META-SPOILER ALERT ***
OK, well I hope you saw the film at least once and read about the (What3Words) location riddle online.
Many of the odd props and toons are ancillary clues that qualify other clues or validate tenuous associations, letting you know you're on the right track. A few can be used as starting points.
Some clues point to three groups of shows and movies that appear to explain Sam's psychology. I'll go through these and then discuss the implications.
PERSONALITY REFERENCE #1
The name Jessie appears on one of the toon gravestones. This may refer to Jessie Pellegrino (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Beaver). There are many water references in the end credits, and Leave it to Beaver was playing on the bunker-tomb TV.
Jessie also worked on Eye Candy, which is an 11-episode MTV series starring Victoria Justice as Lindy, who (according to IMDB) is a "hacker with a gift for seeing clues and connections in the digital world that others can't." But more importantly, "Lindy begins to suspect that one of her suitors is a deadly cyber-stalker." This is validated by the toon of two silhouetted people (one profile resembles Victoria Justice) facing each other with "?" marks. Also, the "puzzle" T-shirts have 11 symbols, and the prices in the right-hand column of the coffee-shop menu board add up to $11, as do all but the last item in the left-hand column.
{The excluded item is "Garden (salad)". Victoria Justice was in The Garden (2006) with Lance Henriksen. This is a rabbit hole involving the location puzzle. There are dozens of others.}
What the Eye Candy reference means is that Sam *IS* a serial killer OF WOMEN (not just dogs). Whether he knows this is another question, but we'll get to that.
PERSONALITY REFERENCE #2
The Douglas Fairbanks toon near the beginning references The Iron Mask (1929). There is a toon of a dog drowning due to an attached iron ball. There is also a toon of the Fairbanks-wannabee with the Owl's Kiss (wearing her mask).
The Iron Mask relates to twins; one good and one evil (but powerful). IMDB has a nice close-up photo of a dramatic note that says "There is another one -- a twin son." Look it up.
What this means is that Sam has a split personality (as implied by the Jekyll & Hyde movie poster in his apartment). In other words, there is "Good Sam" and "Bad Sam". Towards the end of the film, the all-important billboard has been half-changed to a new advertisement; the face is literally split in half, with one half being a happy clown shedding a tear of joy (but can also be interpreted as a crazy clown with a prison tattoo). The final shot of the film shows Sam half-dressed; this symbology is consistent with a split personality. I suspect the ex-GF (Summer Bishil) became suspicious of Sam (think Lindy in Eye Candy) and dumped him. Sam evasively tells the Homeless King that his ex-GF had a dog that he misses, which he now (perhaps disturbingly) strongly associates with her (read on).
It's possible that Sam's line "Deep below the surface ... under the Silver Lake" is a metaphor for his subconscious. Indian-headdress-guy's T-shirt, when combined with items on the coffee-shop menu board, references the cartoon Duck Soup to Nuts (1944). Daffy tells Porky "You can't catch me, Fatso, because I can hold my breath underwater practically indefinitely." After Sam says his "Deep" line, there is a brief fuzzy toon image of the Dog Killer underwater (at ~19.30).
PERSONALITY REFERENCE #3
The first word on the coffee-shop menu board is Rosthern, birthplace of Erdman Penner (died in LA) who worked on Alice in Wonderland. The importance is underscored by the White (VW) Rabbit Sam follows. Also, the word FARIS is prominent in the Crypt Bar scene. Anna Faris is well-known for The House Bunny, which had a character named Oliver (Colin Hanks). Colin was in Numb3rs for two episodes and also in the the play "33 variations". He has an IMDB quote of "I collect watches because I'm always late, and I need to know exactly how late I'm going to be -- in order to come up with a good excuse", which may relate back to Alice in Wonderland.
Colin was in King Kong (2005) with Jack Black and Naomi Watts, a remake of the 1933 original with Fay Wray. There are some hidden references to the name "Jack". One involves Johnny Depp's mask, the pirate guy, and the "7-5-1" clue. Dead Men Tell No Tales is set in 1751 and features Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow and Paul McCartney as Uncle Jack. Combine this with Black Pearl and it points to Jack Black's King Kong film. IMDB says "The end credits are set against an art deco backdrop rather than the traditional black screen. The backdrop is an exact replica, in Technicolor, of the same backdrop that was used for the opening credits in the 1933 version of King Kong." In other words, we're being systematically led to the original film. If you look this film up, you'll find it starts with an opening card that says:
And the prophet said: "And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead." Old Arabian Proverb
The end-credit music is Strange Currencies by R. E. M. (from their Monster LP). The music video even features a coyote!
The implication is that Bad Sam is a monster, which fits nicely with his movie poster of The Wolf Man. It seems that Sam avoids killing beautiful women (if they like him?). Sarah met this standard, as did his ex-GF (Summer Bishil is hot). Three end-credit graphics appearing with Riki Lindhome's name apply to HER character (e.g., Sam likes the free food).
Sam is obsessed with finding Sarah, as she is unique (as was Fay Wray to King Kong).
{If you need more convincing, do note that Naomi Watts appeared in a number of provocatively-titled productions, notably the mini-series Brides of Christ (1991) as Frances Heffernan, which ties in with the "Jesus and the Brides of Dracula" band. Also, "Frances" signed the Cobain poster. Digging deeper, Naomi Watts and Tom Skerritt appeared together in The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer. Tom Skerritt was in The Rovers (1971), which may relate to the toon tombstone of Rover.}
DISCUSSION
Sam has an internal "evil twin" he is not fully aware of. The two personalities apparently vie for control. Whenever Sam hallucinates that women are barking at him, the evil/vindictive/insane twin is trying to wake up and take over. He probably wants to kill the ex for dumping him, even if he doesn't realize it. It's interesting that her fiancée is a large, friendly-but-capable type; she's probably drawn to him by a need for protection. When Sam meets her at the upscale backyard party, she seems tense but attempts to be friendly (thus concealing her discomfort). Also, her half of the billboard says "I Can See C", but "C" is part of a location clue, so for purposes of this discussion it says "I Can See" -- and then EGAD we have crazy-killer-clown right there. Sam is transfixed by all this.
Then there's that "Hamburgers are LOVE" slogan. Comic-Man says (about hidden-purpose messages) "That's as common as tits and hamburgers" and even shows a subliminal magazine ad equating tits and burgers. So the slogan becomes "Tits are love". However, in the first balloon-girl appearance, she has both blood-red and light pink balloons. The latter are darker near the tip, almost like aureole. The guests pop the balloons with pins (which Sam enjoys). The clown's hair contains a faint subliminal vagina, so I think the message here is that for Bad Sam, LOVE (i.e., sex) = Death-by-Stabbing. It's very dark.
{The billboard's purported location is near The Morrison, a burger joint. This ties in with the (large-breasted) gal with the Jim Morrison T-shirt cleaning "Dog Killer" graffiti from the coffee-shop window.}
At the end of the film, the scantily-clad neighbor lets Sam into her apartment. The vibe is just like a woman in a horror movie allowing a vampire to enter her abode. They have (implied) sex, and then Sam is on the balcony. We actually SEE him transform into his evil twin, who looks directly into the camera in a very disturbing way. It's likely he will kill the neighbor; by sleeping with him she has proven (in his mind) that she's a tramp and deserves no better. It's sick and twisted, but not exactly unheard of in horror films.
The final mystery may be the Owl's Kiss. Is she human (and vulnerable)? I suspect Good Sam can subconsciously access Bad Sam's deadly skill set in times of mortal peril. This defense mechanism, plus the gun, is too just much for the Owl's Kiss, who bolts, crying "No! No!". She clearly frightens Good Sam; he yelps in surprise.
FOR MORE ABOUT PUZZLE CLUES
See my (7-star) review of Monsters vs. Aliens.