Take a bit of BRAIN DAMAGE, mix with a bit of STREET TRASH, shake well and then pop it in the oven until overdone and the result is SLIME CITY! Hey that is not meant to be a putdown . . . I actually like this movie and not just because the apartment where most of it takes place is a dead ringer for the first New York apartment I lived in!
Seriously now, the story involves Alex (Robert Sabin) art student who moves into a building that has seen better days. The owner/landlady is happy he moved in, a little TOO happy and the tenants are all more than a little weird. Oh well, any old port, right?
The neighbour Ramon offers the new tenant a cup of some green stuff which he calls “Tibetan Yogurt” and some green wine which he calls “an elixir” which knocks Alex flat after a single sip. It isn’t long before he has nightmares about a mysterious black robed figure and hallucinates that he seduces his sexy neighbour. Then again, maybe it ISN’T a hallucination. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Are we venturing into ERASERHEAD territory?
Actually no we aren’t because existentialism soon takes a back seat to supernaturalism. Alex wakes up after his prolonged nightmare and discovers his body is melting! Stumbling down the street he flies into a rage and beats a street tramp to death. Hardly has the unlucky victim gasped out his last breath before Alex returns to normal. This isn’t the end of his troubles though . . . oh no we have many more reels to unspool before this is over. Those few sips of the strange green fluid have hooked him on the strange elixir and melting soon becomes a regular occurrence which only violent murder can reverse. Alex’s girlfriend (Mary Huner) and his frat boy ex-roommate pal are very concerned but can they save him or will they become his victims?
This movie is now available on DVD and many of you will probably want to discover it for yourself so I will not spoil all the surprises, of which this film has many. Somehow the plot covers murder, suicide, Satanism and reincarnation and never loses its coherency. Gore is relatively mild until the end and that’s where all the stops are pulled out. My only regret is that I never got to see this movie at a late night screening with a bunch of stoned, drunk college students. THAT would have been a treat indeed.
Director Gregory Lamberson did a very good job with the limited resources he had. After almost 20 years this film is finally finding its audience. I hope it does well.
