Episode 88: Lunatics: A love Story (1991)

Ok, its true that we here at Indie Film Cafe tend to focus on the stinkier side of indie films, but that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the good little indies that pop out from time to time, especially the ones that tend to fly udder the radar – and that’s just the kind of indie feature we have here for our NEXT EPISODE with Josh Becker‘s Lunatics: A Love Story (shot in 1989, released in 1991). Starring Ted Raimi, Deborah Foreman, and the always mooovelous Bruce Campbell, this is a fun, odd little indie that is worth gettin’ yer shovel out to dig dig dig up and find! Check out our podcast, with special guest co-hot actress Taylor Kilgore!

Hmmmmm…methinks Hank is gonna have a bad day…

Poor Hank (Raimi); he’s a nerdy crazypants poet who can’t leave his house because evil doctors, giant spiders, crappy early 90’s rappers, and udder things are totally out to get him, and without the protection of his aluminum foil wrapped apartment in LA he is totally done for. And this is just fine, until poor, sweet Nancy (Foreman), who is cowvinced that she is cursed and that everything she touches dies or is destroyed, actually shows up at his doorstep. Hey-presto, he instantly falls for her (well, she IS Deborah Foreman!), but she runs off, and Hank is left with the existential question of the era: does he stay inside where it’s safe, or venture outside his tin foil castle to get the girl back? And Bruce Campbell plays several roles in this fun indie, including a mad doctor and Ray, Nancy’s ne’er-do-well boyfriend. Plus CLAYMATION MOSTERS!!! Did we mention the bad rap moosic??

This is yer chance to see Ted Raimi as a lead, and he’s really good – he’s been in a ton of udder flicks (The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except, Darkman, to name a few), but this is his cowming out party. Deborah Foreman was the IT girl of the 80’s (Valley Girl, Real Genius, My Chauffer, April Fool’s Day, etc), who all but vanished from the scene after this moovie and did not return until 2008 with Beautiful Loser – and the MooCow is very happy to see her back! We all know Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead franchise, Ash VS Evil Dead, Brisco County, Bubba Ho Tep, etc), although usually he is the lead, so its interesting to see him and Ted Raimi swap roles. Josh Becker has directed udder stuff too, including Running Time, Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except, Alien Apocalypse, and Harpies, as well as a pile of tv series episodes for Xena and Jack of All Trades.

We feel ya, Hank: its dangerous out there!

well, the votes are in, and the scores for Lunatics: a Love Story is pretty low! The MooCow chipped in with a 4, Moody went with a 1, and Taylor Kilgore went with a 5.5, which gives Lunatics: a Love Story a total Stink Score of 10.5, which is a Stinky Average of 3.5, which is some low hanging fruit! On the Ladder of Stink, this moovie ranks right up there with For Y’ur Height Only and Santa’s Slay! And after the season we’ve had here at Indie Film Cafe of soooo many near-30’s, its nice to have a pretty decent indie freshen up the place, at least until the MooCow drags in an-udder smelly stink bomb…
;=8)

We gots yer trailerage right HERE. You can see the moovie for free on the Tube of You, and also it is streaming on CouchPop – but if you want the physical medium you can find the DVD by visiting yer old Uncle Amazon. For u fans Down Udder you can get the Aussie DVD HERE. Old school cowllectors of VHS can find there there too, and also Ebay. Someday we hope there will be a Blu Ray release – check back and we will update you with that info when we gets it! Good luck finding merch for this film, although the MooCow was able to eek out this original poster on auction HERE – maybe there will be moore, one can only hope. Here is a nice review of the DVD release on Starburst magazine, and an udder from Diabolique magazine.