Reflections of Evil

Anger, paranoia, obesity, rage, police brutality in Post 9/11 LA by underground filmmaker Damon Packard. LA is seen as an angry and unforgiving city of misfits counterpointed by artifice of the movie industry. The movie is edited really well and has also really funny sequences like The Golden Guru, young Steven Spielberg death set and Universal Studios rides filmed in secret. Just sit back and enjoy what is truly ones of the weirdest filmic rides ever.

Makes Inland Empire look like a Disney animation.

I get the 'radicalism' but it feels dated and very of its time. Watching it 20 years later, I think, it loses a lot of its emerging originality.

big prime MDE energy at times (before sam hyde swore himself to the reich and shot up all those high schools).

It doesn't get any better than this.

Now that an uncut version is actually available in an official, legal (!?) version in streaming, I can now admire this as the bizarre experience it is. Could be viewed as amateur "noise", especially as it is filled with ill explained moments and padding, but it's compelling and did more to freak me out than films far more expensive and slickly produced then it.. Moments stand out, like the last act in the theme park, that make the experience unforgettable.

An utterly bizarre display of anger, frustration and paranoia that's somewhat incoherent and contains constant scenes of sputtering rage, violent threats, exaggerated sound effects, unlicensed music and film footage, and cheap video FX. But it's not without humor and has an air of melancholy. The scenes with a young Steven Spielberg are hysterical. At times it can become monotonous but it's saved by strange surprises and oddly touching moments. Amazing film.