GRIMMFEST 2020: The Special
GRIMMFESTCredit where credit is due, The Special is a unique experience, if not one that is likely to remain rather forgettable. Director B. Harrison Smith at least thrusts the audience straight into the action. Egged on by his friend, Mike (Dave Sheridan), protagonist Jerry (Davy Raphaely) decides to cheat on his wife because he suspects she has been cheating on him. Jerry is introduced via an expository rant from Mike – “you’re a good guy and you’re a great husband” – and Smith at least attempts to make Jerry sympathetic, up until the point he willingly goes to a brothel in order to experience ‘The Special’.
Obviously thinking it’s going to be a woman, Jerry is surprised to learn that ‘The Special’ is a wooden box with a glory hole in it. But he decides to give it a go anyway – hey, he spent sixty bucks on this. Jerry experiences the greatest orgasm of his life and, as the days go by, he quickly begins to realise he needs ‘The Special’ again.
The rest of the film follows Jerry down an increasingly dark rabbit hole, as he surprises even himself with the lengths he will go to, effectively, get his rocks off. Raphaely is the best of a lacklustre cast. He plays paranoid well, but struggles to convincingly carry off any other real emotion. A scene where he confronts a hotel cleaner for asking if he wants his room to be cleaned comes off as laughably bad, with the intention of the scene seemingly set to show how obsessed Jerry has become. Fortunately for him, most of what is required of Raphaely is paranoia. On the other end of the spectrum, the movie’s weakest link is Sarah French who plays Lisa, Jerry’s wife. French, in particular, is seemingly devoid of any acting quality and only seems remotely believable during her rather gratuitous sex scene.
The movie riffs off some Cronenbourg-ian body horror, with Videodrome springing to mind as a prime example. Smith is clever enough to keep hidden the true origin of ‘The Special’ for as long as possible, resulting in a mash of gooey, gory effects towards the climax of the movie. However, everything leading up to that has been hidden from the camera and almost comes as too much of a shock, with its quick shake up of style.
A disturbingly gruesome ending doesn’t make up for the fact that The Special could’ve been an interesting allegory for sexual addiction, or even just for the dangers of sleeping around. Instead, it is hampered by a dull cast and a script that needed a good combing over.